Based: Seattle, WA
Founded: 1999
www.widevine.com
Why it's fierce: Everyone knows the studios and content providers are weary of putting their content onto an IP network, for fear that hackers will break the DRM and release content onto peer-to-peer networks. WideVine is the Tylenol PM that helps them sleep at night--its invisible watermarking technology for linear broadcast and VOD content embeds marks at multiple points to indicate where content was last sent, received and viewed. WideVine's technology also includes renewable client security for its traditional DRM as well as its watermarking offerings. As WideVine works to stay one step ahead of the hackers, never will an IP video go missing on its watch.
What to look for: WideVine will continue to ramp up its partners in the North American IPTV space and its watermarking will become a standard in STBs both here and abroad.