Intel subsidiary rakes in HDCP content fees

MAJOR PLAYERS in the computer market have all signed up for licences from an Intel subsidiary and a flurry of acronyms and abbreviations means few but industry players may have noticed what's happening.

We've already noted here that "your new hardware is already broken". As the author of this piece notes, computer firms are "actively hiding it from you, yet you feed them more each time".

A company called Digital Content Protection LLC explains on its website that HDCP - which stands for high bandwidth digital content protection - is meant to protect entertainment content across the DVI/HDMI interface.

This, explains the site, provides a "robust, cost effective and transparent method for transmitting and receiving digital entertainment content". You will have to take out a licence, whether you're a parts manufacturer, a reseller, or a content provider.

Digital Content Protection LLC is, however, an Intel subsidiary, as this other site devoted to HDMI explains.

The content licence agreement explains that Intel has developed proprietary technology and the LLC, a subsidiary of Chipzilla itself, is administering the scheme.

The annual fee for content providers is $15,000, while re-sellers have to indemnify the company to the tune of $$$$ galore if the terms and conditions are breached. Content participants pay $50,000 a year. All are bound by strict confidentiality and NDA agreements.

The list of firms that have signed up for HDCP is lengthy indeed, but doesn't include AMD nor Via. Walt Disney and Warner Brothers have signed up as content participants. That list includes, however, ATI and Nvidia.

And, indeed, these last two appear already to have implemented some of the stuff already. Nvidia release notes are here, and ATI notes are here. Similar features are in Microsoft's Direct X tech. Microsoft lists details about the status of the HDCP key, here. µ