Cinea enters pact with BAFTA for secure screener distribution plan

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has agreed to deploy Cinea’s secure DVD players to its film voting members for the 2004–2005 awards season.
This move will help to ensure antipiracy security for screening DVD copies of films under consideration for the Orange British Academy Film Awards.
Previously, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) agreed to facilitate Cinea’s plan to distribute secure players to all AMPAS members. Cinea will fund the production and deployment of all these professional-grade players at its own expense, as well as provide service and support for the deployment this fall.
DVDs encrypted by Cinea’s S-VIEW system will only play in an authoriSed Cinea DVD player, called the SV300. Cinea is working with both large and small film distributors to utilize the S-VIEW system for the distribution of secure DVD screeners to members of both AMPAS and BAFTA.
"We are very pleased to be working with Cinea to give our members the opportunity to receive secure screeners. The British Academy takes the threat of piracy very seriously, and we welcome any solution that can reduce the risk of unauthorized copying," said David Parfitt, Chair of BAFTA's Film Committee.
“Securing award consideration screeners has been a critical problem for our customers and the industry for some time,” said Rob Schumann, Cinea’s General Manager. “Cinea is delighted to offer a solution that secures filmmakers’ content throughout the screener distribution process.”
These high-end players will play conventional DVDs as well as the specially encrypted discs.
The protected discs are encrypted using a US government standard algorithm that makes it virtually impossible for anyone in the world to view one without an authorised SV300 player.
Cinea will make the SV300 DVD players available (under the same terms) to any of the awards programs targeted by the studios during the 2004–2005 awards season.
Cinea is currently in discussions with each of the studios regarding its S-VIEW technology and applications for awards screeners, as well as an array of postproduction uses.
S-VIEW is an advanced security system that allows content producers the ability to easily and confidently use DVDs to view digital dailies, screeners, and works in progress. Ideal for motion picture and television creators, the use of S-VIEW as an integral part of production and postproduction processes protects against piracy and ensures that content is seen and heard only by authorised entities.
The S-VIEW system allows content creators to handle large numbers of encrypted discs with the least amount of cumbersome administration and cost. Notably, a unique element of the system is that each SV300 player is individually addressable, so that distributors can target precisely who can view their content, from many thousands (for example, all the members of an awards organization), to just a few individuals (in the case of a film production).
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