Zee Entertainment Enterprises is deploying NexGuard forensic watermarking system at its Mumbai facilities.
"With Peer-2-Peer platforms and illegal re-streaming services flourishing in the subcontinent, we sensed a strong need to deploy solutions to protect our most important asset — our content," said Sunil Buch, chief business officer at Zee.
"Using NexGuard forensic watermarking, we can now trace the source of illegal copies of each video asset at any point of the content lifecycle,” said Buch. “This enhances our content security by many folds, and above all, it acts as a powerful deterrent against piracy."
Zee is a global content company with a presence across 171 countries. With a rich bouquet of 33 domestic and 38 international channels, Zee reaches over one billion viewers across the world.
NexGuard watermarking technology enables the forensic watermarking of its valuable video content with a unique identifier in post-production, making its worldwide distribution traceable and secure. This level of protection is particularly important for content owners looking at preserving the value of their content before it is aired.
The solution provides watermarking plug-ins for most commercially available transcoders as well as solutions for other file, tape and disc workflows.
NexGuard solutions for 4K/UHD are commercially available and HDR support is under testing by the Hollywood studios. Zee has chosen to deploy the NexGuard system in the form of software plug-ins for their transcoder farms, thereby ensuring a seamless fit in its existing content post-production and distribution workflow.