Basic Interoperable Scrambling System, usually known as BISS, is a satellite signal scrambling system developed by the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; , UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations in countries within the European Broadcasting Area (EBA) or who are member states of the Council of Europe, members of the ...

, Eurovision Media Services and a consortium of hardware manufacturers. Prior to its development, "''ad hoc''" or "occasional use"

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

news feeds were transmitted either using proprietary encryption methods (e.g. RAS, or PowerVu), or without any

encryption In Cryptography law, cryptography, encryption (more specifically, Code, encoding) is the process of transforming information in a way that, ideally, only authorized parties can decode. This process converts the original representation of the inf ...

. Unencrypted satellite feeds allowed anyone with the correct equipment to view the program material. Proprietary encryption methods were determined by encoder manufacturers, and placed major compatibility limitations on the type of satellite receiver ( IRD) that could be used for each feed. BISS was an attempt to create an "open platform" encryption system, which could be used across a range of manufacturers equipment. BISSkeyscreen

There are mainly two different types of BISS encryption used: * BISS-1 transmissions are protected by a 12 digit

hexadecimal Hexadecimal (also known as base-16 or simply hex) is a Numeral system#Positional systems in detail, positional numeral system that represents numbers using a radix (base) of sixteen. Unlike the decimal system representing numbers using ten symbo ...

"session key" that is agreed by the transmitting and receiving parties prior to transmission. The key is entered into both the encoder and decoder, this key then forms part of the encryption of the digital TV signal and any receiver with BISS-support with the correct key will decrypt the signal. * BISS-E (E for encrypted) is a variation where the decoder has stored one secret BISS-key entered by for example a rights holder. This is unknown to the user of the decoder. The user is then sent a 16-digit hexadecimal code, which is entered as a "session key". This session key is then mathematically combined internally to calculate a BISS-1 key that can decrypt the signal. Only a decoder with the correct secret BISS-key will be able to decrypt a BISS-E feed. This gives the rights holder control as to exactly which decoder can be used to decrypt/decode a specific feed. Any BISS-E encrypted feed will have a corresponding BISS-1 key that will unlock it. BISS-E is amongst others used by EBU to protect

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

, NBC in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

for NBC O&O and Affiliated station and other high-profile satellite feeds.

External links

BISS-E Technical Specification by EBU
{{broadcast encryption Digital television Digital rights management systems Broadcast engineering Satellite broadcasting Conditional-access television broadcasting