Digital Video Broadcasting Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) is a set of international open standards for digital television. DVB standards are maintained by the DVB Project, an international industry consortium, and are published by a Joint Technical Committee (JTC) ...

, the Common Interface (also called

DVB Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) is a set of international open standards for digital television. DVB standards are maintained by the DVB Project, an international industry consortium, and are published by a Joint Technical Committee (JTC) o ...

-CI) is a technology which allows decryption of pay TV channels. Pay TV stations want to choose which encryption method to use. The Common Interface allows TV manufacturers to support many different pay TV stations, by allowing to plug in exchangeable

conditional-access module A conditional access module (CAM) is an electronic device, usually incorporating a slot for a smart card, which equips an integrated digital television or set-top box with the appropriate hardware facility to view conditional access content ...

s (CAM) for various encryption schemes. The Common Interface is the connection between the TV tuner (TV or

set-top box A set-top box (STB), also colloquially known as a cable box and historically television decoder, is an information appliance device that generally contains a TV-tuner input and displays output to a television set and an external source of sign ...

) and the module that decrypts the TV signal (CAM). This module, in turn, then accepts the pay-to-view subscriber card, which contains the access keys and permissions. The host (TV or

) is responsible for tuning to pay TV channels and demodulation of the RF signal, while CAM is responsible for CA descrambling. The Common Interface allows them to communicate with each other. All Common Interface equipment must comply with the EN 50221-1997 standard. This is a defined standard that enables the addition of a CAM in a

DTV receiver A DTV receiver is a set-top box that permits the reception of digital television. Its components are very similar to a desktop PC. The DTV receiver is a vital link in the chain of television system. The goal of a broadcasting system is to concentra ...

to adapt it to different kinds of

cryptography Cryptography, or cryptology (from grc, , translit=kryptós "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adver ...

. The EN 50221 specification allows many types of modules but only the CAM has found popularity because of the

pay TV Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...

market. Indeed, one of Digital Video Broadcasting's main strengths is the option of implementing the required conditional access capability on the Common Interface. This allows broadcasters to use modules containing solutions from different suppliers, thus increasing their choice of anti-piracy options.

Mode of operation

receiver may have one or two slots implementing the Common Interface (CI). The CI uses the

( PCMCIA) connector and conforms to the

Common Scrambling Algorithm The Common Scrambling Algorithm (CSA) is the encryption algorithm used in the DVB digital television broadcasting for encrypting video streams. CSA was specified by ETSI and adopted by the DVB consortium in May 1994. It is being succeeded by CSA3 ...

(CSA), the normative that specifies that such a receiver must be able to accept DES (

Data Encryption Standard The Data Encryption Standard (DES ) is a symmetric-key algorithm for the encryption of digital data. Although its short key length of 56 bits makes it too insecure for modern applications, it has been highly influential in the advancement of cry ...

) keys in intervals of some milliseconds, and use them to decode private channels according to a specific algorithm. Those algorithms are proprietary to individual suppliers. Each one uses their own algorithms and there is no defined standard for them. As the full MPEG-2 transport data stream comes out of the demodulator, and error correction units, the

DTV Receiver A DTV receiver is a set-top box that permits the reception of digital television. Its components are very similar to a desktop PC. The DTV receiver is a vital link in the chain of television system. The goal of a broadcasting system is to concentra ...

sends it through the card plugged into the Common Interface, before it is processed by the MPEG demultiplexer in the receiver. If several CI cards are present, the MPEG transport data stream will be passed sequentially through all these cards. An embedded CAM may not physically exist, as it may be in CPU software. In such a case, only the

smart card A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card (ICC or IC card) is a physical electronic authentication device, used to control access to a resource. It is typically a plastic credit card-sized card with an embedded integrated circuit (IC) c ...

reader normally in the CAM is fitted and not the PCMCIA type CI slots. Even if the Common Interface has been created to resolve cryptography issues, it can have other functions using other types of modules such as

Web Browser A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used on ...

, iDTV (

Interactive Television Interactive television is a form of media convergence, adding data services to traditional television technology. It has included on-demand delivery of content, online shopping, and viewer polls. Interactive TV is an example of how new information ...

), and so forth. In Europe, DVB-CI is obligatory in all iDTV terminals. The host sends an encrypted

MPEG transport stream MPEG transport stream (MPEG-TS, MTS) or simply transport stream (TS) is a standard digital container format for transmission and storage of audio, video, and Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) data. It is used in broadcast systems ...

to the

CAM Calmodulin (CaM) (an abbreviation for calcium-modulated protein) is a multifunctional intermediate calcium-binding messenger protein expressed in all eukaryotic cells. It is an intracellular target of the secondary messenger Ca2+, and the bin ...

and the CAM sends the decrypted transport stream back to the host. The CAM often contains a smart-card reader.

Standards

DVB-CI

The normative DVB-CI standard EN 50221 was defined in 1997 by

CENELEC CENELEC (french: Comité Européen de Normalisation Électrotechnique; en, European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) is responsible for European standardization in the area of electrical engineering. Together with ETSI (telecommun ...

, the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization. According to the Common Interface scheme: :* host : A device where module(s) can be connected; for example, an

Integrated receiver/decoder An integrated receiver/decoder (IRD) is an electronic device used to pick up a radio-frequency signal and convert digital information transmitted in it. Consumer IRDs Consumer IRDs, commonly called set-top boxes, are used by end users and are ...

(IRD), a VCR, a PC ... :* module : A small device, not working by itself, designed to run specialized tasks in association with a host; for example, a conditional access sub system, an electronic program guide application module, or to provide resources required by an application but not provided directly by the host. The specification only defines two aspects, two logical interfaces to be included on the same physical interface. The first interface is the MPEG-2 Transport Stream. The link and physical layers are defined in this specification and the higher layers are defined in the MPEG-2 specifications. The second interface, the command interface, carries commands between the host (receiver) and the module. The specification does not define the operation or functionality of a conditional access system application on the module. The applications that may be performed by a module communicating across the interface are not limited to conditional access or to those described in this specification. More than one module may be supported concurrently. The common interface shares many features of the

PC Card In computing, PC Card is a configuration for computer parallel communication peripheral interface, designed for laptop computers. Originally introduced as PCMCIA, the PC Card standard as well as its successors like CardBus were defined and devel ...

Standard ( PCMCIA). By reducing the widths of the address and data buses it has been possible to include a bi-directional parallel transport stream interface.

Transport Stream Interface (TSI)

The transport stream format is specified by IEC 13818-1 and is the

MPEG 2 MPEG-2 (a.k.a. H.222/H.262 as was defined by the ITU) is a standard for "the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information". It describes a combination of lossy video compression and lossy audio data compression methods, ...

TS format.

Command Interface

In addition there is a command interface for communication between the host and module. This communication is in the form of a layered protocol stack which allows the host and module to share resources. For example, the module can request the current date and time from the host. To use this service, module shall open a session to the "Date-Time" resource provided by host. Or, module can ask the host to display a message on the TV screen and can then read keypresses from the host remote control. This is done by opening a session to host's Man-Machine Interface (MMI) Resource. This resource also allows the CAM to request and receive PIN numbers. Some of defined by DVB-CI resources are de facto optional. For example, the host could contain a modem for communication over a telephone line allowing the CAM to implement pay-per-view. This can be done by opening a session to host's Low-Speed Communication (LSC) resource (assuming that the host announced the availability of this resource). The Host Control resource (allowing CAM to request force-tuned) also may be absent in some of hosts. The definitely mandatory resources are Resource Manager, Application Information and Conditional Access Support ones. First two of these three are necessary for initial handshaking between CAM and its Host, while the CA Support resource is necessary for descrambling the selected channels. The Command Interface is extensible and there are several specification documents available which describe these extensions (e.g. ETSI TS 101 699). However, these extensions have often not proved popular with manufacturers.

CI+

Definition

CI+ (also known as CI Plus or Common Interface Plus) is a specification that extends the original

Common Interface standard (DVB-CI, sometimes referred to as DVB-CIv1). The main addition introduced by CI+ is a form of copy protection between a CI+

(referenced by the spec as CICAM, while CI+ CAM seems to be a more precise abbreviation) and the television receiver (Host). CI+ is backward compatible with DVB-CIv1. Old television receivers, which have CIv1 CI-slot, can be used with CI+ CAM and vice versa, but for viewing only those of TV programs which are not marked as CI+ protected.

History

= Initial versions

= CI+ specification has been developed by consumer electronic firms

Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Osaka P ...

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

and

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

, as well as pay-TV technology company SmarDTV and

fabless Fabless manufacturing is the design and sale of hardware devices and semiconductor chips while outsourcing their fabrication (or ''fab'') to a specialized manufacturer called a semiconductor foundry. These foundries are typically, but not exclu ...

chip Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) is a type of immunoprecipitation experimental technique used to investigate the interaction between proteins and DNA in the cell. It aims to determine whether specific proteins are associated with specific genom ...

maker Neotion. A first draft of the specification was put up for review in January 2008 as V1.00 CI Plus Specification. The establishment of the Trusted Authority has been completed and an official security certification lab appointed. In 2009, versions 1.1 and 1.2 were released. The 1.2 version became the first one which was massively deployed. The main features added to the original DVB-CI standard by the CI+ v1.2 are: * Content Control (allows re-encryption of video and audio on their way from CI+ CAM to its host) * coordination of CAM firmware upgrade between CAM and its host * "CI Plus browser" - support of

MHEG-5 MHEG-5, or ISO/IEC 13522-5, is part of a set of international standards relating to the presentation of multimedia information, standardised by the Multimedia and Hypermedia Experts Group (MHEG). It is most commonly used as a language to describ ...

applications running on a CI+ host, launched by a CI+ CAM and being able to communicate with it * support of IP communication was added to the DVB-CI's Low-Speed Communication (LSC) resource (but without renaming it to "High-Speed"). The spec doesn't state explicitly about each feature if it is mandatory or optional. The mandatory feature (as it's actually the main raison d'être of CI+) is Content Control. The optional feature of v1.2 version is "PVR Resource" – this can be concluded from the fact that it doesn't appear in newer CI+ spec versions.

= CI+ v1.3

= In 2011, version 1.3 of the CI+ spec was released (later, was replaced with CI+ v1.3.1 and then wit
CI+ v1.3.2
, still commonly referenced as CI+ v1.3). The main features added by CI+ v1.3 to CI+ v1.2 are: * various enhancements of Content Control mechanism * coordination of parental control PIN code handling between CAM and its host * better IP communication support (increased data throughput) * VOD support * a new Operator Profile resource allowing CAM to adapt non-standard broadcast-specific service information to standard DVB format understandable by Host.

= CI+ v1.4

= With the development of CI+, the standard has now come under the umbrella of the DVB standards organization.
In 2014, DVB release
ETSI TS 103 205 V1.1.1
specification, defining what is often referred as "CI+ v1.4". The main features added by ETSI TS 103 205 to CI+ v1.3 are: * multi-tuner support * URI (usage rules information) extensions (the most prominent is addition of trick mode enable/disable flag) * IP-delivered video support * watermarking and transcoding capability * the communication functionality was extended to support IP multicast and hybrid type of communication (hybrid communication means here that IP multicast data arrive to module over the transport stream interface) * CI Plus™ browser extensions (interaction channel, streaming, video scaling etc.) * letting a CI+ CAM to determine if its Host supports an advanced application environment (e.g.

HbbTV Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) is both an industry standard ( European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) TS 102 796) and promotional initiative for hybrid digital TV to harmonise the broadcast, Internet Protocol Television ( ...

or MHP) and, if yes, to launch a corresponding application * allowing CI+ CAM applications to be represented in the Host's channel line-up in form of virtual channels.

= CI+ v2.0

= In 2018, ETSI published the second generation DVB-CI standard (often referred to as CI+ v2.0)
TS 103 605 V1.1.1
The main evolution of this version is to add USB as physical layer to replace the aging PC Card interface.

Certification

CI+ Host and CAM testing and certification is carried out b
Eurofins Digital Testing
(formerly Digital TV Labs) in the UK, Hong Kong, Belgium and Poland.

How it works

=Content protection

= By making use of certificates issued by a trusted certification authority, a secure authenticated channel (SAC) is formed between a CI+ CAM and television receiver (Host). This SAC is used to generate a shared key, unique per a CAM-Host pair, which protects from unauthorized copying the content marked in the associated URI (Usage Rules Info) as a content which needs to be re-encrypted on its way from CAM to Host after removal the original CA or DRM scrambling (in the original CI standard, decrypted content could be sent over the PCMCIA interface only in unscrambled form).

=Revocation

= CI+ standard allows revocation of compromised CI+ Hosts. This is done by broadcasting a Service Operator Certificate Revocation List (SOCRL) in a

DSM-CC Digital storage media command and control (DSM-CC) is a toolkit for developing control channels associated with MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 streams. It is defined in part 6 of the MPEG-2 standard (Extensions for DSM-CC) and uses a client/server model connect ...

data carousel. If CAM detects that its Host's ID, model or brand is listed in SOCRL (and isn't listed in optional SOCWL - Service Operator Certificate White List), the CAM must refuse descrambling the content marked in CI+ URI as protected. A SOCRL is created and signed by the CI+ Root-of-Trust on request of a Service Operator. To prevent replay of out-of-dated SOCRL and SOCWL, they must be broadcast in combination with RSD (Revocation Signaling Data) table which specifies the last versions of SOCRL and SOCWL and their location in the DSM-CC data carousel. The RSD also must be signed.

=Enhanced MMI

= A CI+ 1.3 compliant Host device must implement

interactive TV engine to manage navigation of the user within an interactive TV application, using its device remote control. Support of MHP or

interactive TV engines are also optional. CI+ 1.4 Hosts may optionally support the

interactive TV engine.

Operators (partial list)

The following operators have currently rolled out CI+ support or plan to do so: *

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

Digitalb DigitAlb is an Albanian media, digital satellite and terrestrial TV platform based in Tirana, Albania. The TV platform began terrestrial broadcasts in July 2004, and satellite broadcasts by the end of that year. At the same time, DigitAlb beg ...

** Tring TV *

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

Blizoo blizoo was a Bulgarian telecommunications operator. It was formed by merging two of the biggest television operators in the country — ''Eurocom Cable'' and ''CableTel'', in 2010. It was acquired by Mtel on 29 July 2015. The two operators merged ...

– launched CI+ in 2014 ** Bulsatcom – launched CI+ v1.3 *

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Telenet Telenet was an American commercial packet-switched network which went into service in 1975. It was the first FCC-licensed public data network in the United States. Various commercial and government interests paid monthly fees for dedicated lines ...

– launched CI+ in June 2013 *
VOO
– launched CI+ in September 2015 *

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

** evotv – launched CI+ v1.3 *

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Canal+ Canal+ (Canal Plus, , meaning 'Channel Plus'; sometimes abbreviated C+ or Canal) is a French premium television channel launched in 1984. It is 100% owned by the Groupe Canal+, which in turn is owned by Vivendi. The channel broadcasts several ki ...

– launched the "Canal Ready" label for devices able to receive Canal+ channel *

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

** HD+ **

Kabel Deutschland Vodafone Kabel Deutschland GmbH is the largest cable television operator in Germany. Kabel Deutschland was subject to a hostile takeover bid by the British Vodafone Group in September 2013; the deal was approved in December 2013 and finalised on ...

– NDS CAM ** KBW **

Sky Deutschland Sky Deutschland GmbH, branded as Sky, is a German media company that operates a direct broadcast satellite Pay TV platform in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (through Sky Switzerland). It provides a collection of basic and premium digital sub ...

– NDS CAM **

Tele Columbus Tele Columbus is a large cable provider in Germany with 3.6 million connected households on network level 4. The company was formed in November 2006 following the merger of Tele Columbus GmbH and ewt multimedia GmbH. In 2015, Tele Columbus acqui ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Mediaset Premium Mediaset Premium was an Italian pay TV provider owned by Mediaset. Until closure in 2019, it provided subscription TV channels and pay-per-view events (only for football matches) via the Italian digital terrestrial television network through the ...

(

Digital terrestrial television Digital terrestrial television (DTTV or DTT, or DTTB with "broadcasting") is a technology for terrestrial television in which land-based (terrestrial) television stations broadcast television content by radio waves to televisions in consumers' ...

) - needs CI+ slot on HD television to descramble High Definition channel

Premium Calcio HD Premium may refer to: Marketing * Premium (marketing), a promotional item that can be received for a small fee when redeeming proofs of purchase that come with or on retail products * Premium segment, high-price brands or services in marketing, ...

. **

Tivùsat tivùsat is a free-to-air/free-to-view digital satellite television platform, launched by the joint venture between RAI, Mediaset and Telecom Italia Media, and serving Italy, Vatican City and San Marino. With the exception of international new ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

** Eltrona *

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Caiway Caiway (or simplified as CAIW) is a cable operator in the Netherlands, providing digital cable television, Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in mainly the Westland, Twente and Schiedam areas. In additio ...

– launched CI+ in October 2009 ** Delta NV – launched CI+ in 2010 ** Kabel Noord – launched CI+ in 2010 **

Ziggo Ziggo Holding B.V. () is the largest cable operator in the Netherlands, providing digital cable television, Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers. History The company is the result of the merger between ...

– launched CI+ in September 2009 (2011 in former UPC areas), SMiT and Neotion CAM modules are used *

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

** Cyfrowy Polsat – Nagravision CAM **

UPC Poland UPC Polska ( en, UPC Poland) is Iliad's telecommunications operation in Poland. It is one of the largest provider of broadband internet, digital television, telephony and mobile services (as an MVNO based on Play's network) in Poland. It was founde ...

Platforma Canal+ Canal+ (formerly Cyfra+ (Canal+ Cyfrowy), nc+, Platforma Canal+) is a Polish satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have a ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

UPC Romania UPC Romania was a telecommunications company in Romania, which provided cable television, broadband internet and fixed telephony to approximately 1 million customers. On July 31, 2019, Vodafone acquired the company and it was merged into Vodafone ...

(now Vodafone) – launched CI+ in April 2012 **

RCS & RDS Digi Communications, also known as RCS & RDS, is a Romanian telecommunication holding company operating in Romania, Hungary, Spain and Italy. Digi was founded by Zoltán Teszári, who is the majority owner, and it is listed on the Bucharest Sto ...

(Digi TV) – Starting November 2013 **

Focus Sat Focus Sat is a direct broadcast satellite television platform owned by M7 Group (Canal+ Luxembourg S.a.r.l.), a subsidiary of Canal+ Group, in Romania. At the beginning, Focus Sat Romania was owned by the majority shareholder Focus Sat Limited ...

– Starting March 2020, previously compatible with 3rd party CIv1 or registered CI+

Conax Conax develops television encryption, conditional access and content security for digital television. Conax provide CAS technology to pay TV operators in 85 countries. The company has offices in Norway (headquarters), Russia, Germany, Brazil, t ...

modules **

Orange TV OTV ( ar, أو تي في, launched in 2007) is a publicly traded television station in Lebanon, connected to the Free Patriotic Movement political party (التيار اللوطني الحر). It is nicknamed 'Orange TV' due to its orange logo ...

** Telekom (formerly Romtelecom/Dolce) *

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

** Akado TV *

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

** SBB **Supernova *

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

Com Hem Com Hem was a Swedish brand owned by Tele2 AB which supplied Triple Play services that included cable television, broadband internet and fixed-line telephone. Founded in 1983 as Televerket Kabel-TV as part of the former state-owned Televerke ...

Viasat Viasat may refer to: *Viasat (American company) (founded 1986) * Viasat (Nordic television service) (founded 1991) * Danish 1st Division, officially Viasat Divisionen, second-highest football league in Denmark * Viasat Cup, 2006 Danish football to ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

UPC Cablecom UPC was the largest cable operator in Switzerland with around 1.1 million residential and business customers and was formed in 1994 through the merger of several cable operators. UPC has been a subsidiary of Liberty Global since 2005. On 27 Feb ...

– Starting June 2010 *

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

D-Smart D-Smart is a Turkish satellite television provider launched in 2007. It launched high-definition television High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the pr ...

** Teledünya *

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Top Up TV Top Up TV was a pay TV service in the United Kingdom which launched in March 2004, operating on the digital terrestrial television platform. The aim of the service was to "top up" Freeview customers by providing additional content and service ...

In July 2009 the largest Cable operator in the Netherlands,

, announced that it will support CI+ based Integrated Digital Television sets (IDTVs) actively. In September 2009 the first batch of 15,00
SMiT
(Shenzhen State Micro Technology Co., Ltd.) CI+ CAMs was offered by various Dutch retailers, followed in October 2009 by the first batch of Neotion CAMs. Other supporters include Canal+, and conditional access companies Irdeto and Conax. In 2009, NDS (now

Cisco Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, ...

) announced that it will support

to deploy CI+ to its customers. In 2014, CI+ CAMs with

VideoGuard VideoGuard (sometimes referred to simply as ''NDS''), produced by NDS, is a digital encryption system for use with conditional access television broadcasting. It is used on digital satellite television systems - some of which are operated by News ...

CA, manufactured b
SMiT
were deployed at

, KDG (

), KBW,

etc.

Compatible TV sets (partial list)

* LG 2010 models all LD and LE series also MFT models MXX80D. * Many of Samsung's new LCD, LCD LED and Plasma model variants with CI+ compatible motherboards, although there were some incompatibilities between TV and UPC and RCS-RDS CI+ modules, even with models certified by UPC and RCS-RDS. Some problems were solved by upgrading the firmware of the TV, other were solved by simply replacing ( in many cases under warranty ) the motherboard. Some Samsung models require an adaptor for non-standard CI module sockets. * Many of Sony's new models including the Bravia W5500 series. Some older models needed a firmware update. * Philips new 5000 and 9000 series LCD TVs (required firmware pending according to Ziggo). *

early models (until early 2011) with CI+ slots needed a new firmware to be fully CI+ compatible.
Update 2010
. All incompatibility problems were solved by software and firmware updates, or sometimes by using a CI+ card or module with other firmware. All models produced after early 2011 are fully compatible with CI+. * Some

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...

Technika models. * Many

Vestel Vestel is a Turkish home and professional appliances manufacturing company consisting of 18 companies specialised in electronics, major appliances and information technology. Vestel's headquarters and production plant are located in Manisa, while ...

based TV sets. Newer Vestel based TV sets are marking the fact they are CI+ certified in their SHOP MODE ( or DEMO MODE ), which is mentioning, beside other features, the CI+ compatibility ( no matter DVB-T, DVB-C, DVB-S), or simply by a sticker attached on the front of the set. Sometimes, however in many cases, CI+ compatibility of the Vestel sets is mentioned on the package, beside other main features.

Embedded Common Interface

A new

ETSI The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is an independent, not-for-profit, standardization organization in the field of information and communications. ETSI supports the development and testing of global technical standard ...

working group will be working on Embedded Common Interface (ECI).

References

External links

CI Plus official web siteOfficial CI Plus test labEN 50221 SpecificationLinuxTV entry for common interfaceETSI TS 101 699 - DVB Extensions to the Common Interface SpecificationR206-001:1998 - Guidelines for Implementation and Use of the Common Interface for DVB Decoder ApplicationsConsortium DVBCENELECCI Plus Specification V1.2 (2009-04)CI Plus Specification V1.3.1 (2011-09)ETSI TS 103 205 V1.1.1 (aka CI+ V1.4)Open source and open hardware CI implementation (Joker TV)
*Gerard O'Driscoll, ''The essential Guide to Digital Set-Boxes and Interactive TV'', reprinted April 2000 *Jerry whitaker, ''Television Receivers'', 2001 {{broadcast encryption Digital Video Broadcasting Digital rights management standards Conditional-access television broadcasting Set-top box