Orbit-Showtime selects Comvenient (BetaCrypt?)

  Orbit-Showtime selects Comvenient

  Middle East pay-TV broadcaster Orbit-Showtime Network (OSN) has surprisingly selected Munich-based Comvenient as its conditional access provider for its new dedicated HD set-top box.

  Comvenient is a fresh name for an old friend of the hackers, a spinoff of the KirchMedia-developed BetaResearch and its much-compromised BetaCrypt encryption. BetaCrypt 2 followed, and was also reportedly to be suffering from piracy. However, there are also reports of satisfied customers. Comvenient is the result of a management buy-out in 2003 of BetaResearch.

  Germany’s Premiere was a BetaCrypt user alongside its Nagravision system until it was superseded by NDS with the company’s relaunch in April 2008. However, it was widely acknowledged that hacking of its encryption algorithms were compromised and did little to help Premiere’s financial position.

  ‘Decoding’ modules are widely available for BetaCrypt. One would also hope that they update their codecs a little more frequently than their web-site which is still promoting events of a year ago. This ‘new’ system is said by one industry insider to be the 9th or 10th different conditional access system being used in the region.

  Source: RapidTVnews