Silverlight Adds Content Partners, Gets New DRM

Hoping to continue building momentum for its Silverlight technology, Microsoft announced Monday that major content providers are coming aboard and it unveiled a new digital-rights management (DRM) system.

The announcement, at the National Association of Broadcasters show in Las Vegas, said Silverlight technology will be used by Madison Square Garden Interactive, Tencent, Abertis Telecom, Terra Networks Operations, SCSi, MNet, and Yahoo Japan.

1.5 Million Downloads Daily

Scott Guthrie, a Microsoft corporate vice president, called the participation of these companies part of "broad industry recognition and rapid adoption of Silverlight across the world." He added that the technology provides "the highest quality creation and delivery of media, protected content, advertising and rich Internet applications." The software giant said the Silverlight plug-in is being downloaded 1.5 million times each day.

The content partners are using Silverlight in a variety of ways. MSG Interactive is using it to deliver live, on-demand content to sports and entertainment fans. China's largest Internet portal, Tencent, said it is developing a series of Silverlight-based next-generation Internet services for its 300 million users.

Abertis Telecom is using Silverlight to deliver dozens of Spanish-language TV channels in a single Web application, and Terra Networks is using it for its new high-definition channel -- expected to reach millions of subscribers in Latin America and the U.S.

Yahoo Japan announced last week that it is using Silverlight for video distribution and Internet services.

Silverlight DRM

Microsoft also announced Silverlight DRM for content protection. The company said it will be compatible with the existing base of Windows Media DRM 10 content, and will support on-demand streaming, live streaming, and progressive downloads. Some content owners have announced backing for this DRM, including Netflix, Paramount Pictures, Limelight Networks, and Technicolor.

Silverlight has been positioned as a competitor to Adobe System's Flex, Flash and AIR platform. Flash is widespread as a plug-in to...