• WOAI.com, Wednesday, November 9, 2005 12 PM

One of the concerns that might have been raised by yesterday's announcement that viewers will be able to purchase brand-new television programming for as little as 99 cents per episode--the fear among Hollywood studios that widespread copying would devalue the value of their intellectual property--will be somewhat allayed by the disclosure that invisible watermarks will be imbedded in the shows to help studios trace illegal copies to their source. Widevine, a Seattle-based company that owns the watermark technology, said it is working with four major cable operators: Comcast, Cox, Charter, and Adelphia. According to an Associated Press report, the watermarks remain even after a program has been copied several times, making it easier for law enforcement to track illegally reproduced programming. The AP says Widevine's involvement in the on-demand video industry "marks the first time digital watermarking has been used to track such programs." Yesterday's announcement by CBS and NBC that they will soon begin providing several of their top shows via alternate means of delivery--for a fee--was widely greeted throughout the industry as a possible significant shift in the traditional prime-time TV model.

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