D2-MAC/Packet and Eurocrypt. Advanced solutions for innovative pay-TV and pay-per-view services

The pay-TV and pay-per-view television services are now established as the vectors of development and structural change of television. The D2MAC/Packet, and the Eurocrypt conditional access system, have been designed by European research centers in a joint development with the consumer electronics industry. This system provides the solution to the drawbacks of the early systems, and opens the compatible way towards high definition television. France Telecom, as the French public national broadcaster, is actively involved in this far-reaching transformation process. The paper outlines the basic features and advantages of this system. It then presents the status of operating services using the system, and addresses the possibilities for its international development