Cloud content services provider Brightcove has launched its  Video Paywall Solution Framework, which it says accelerates the introduction of paid video content services for media publishers by combining the scale, reliability and multi-screen reach of the Brightcove Video Cloud online video platform with best-in-class subscription management, payment processing, digital rights management (DRM) and content protection technologies, including Adobe Flash Access, Google Widevine, PayWizard, and TinyPass.

Brightcove says the framework is not a new commercial product offering, but rather, a set of reference applications, example code, and documentation for integrating Brightcove Video Cloud and third party products to deliver a secure subscription management and video paywall solution.

“Media publishers are under pressure to offer paid access to their premium video content, but many are struggling to identify and knit together all the technologies that are required to deliver a great multi-screen consumer experience,” says Eric Elia, vice president of TV solutions at Brightcove. “Our new solution framework pulls together all the building blocks from multiple vendors into a state-of-the-art system that sells, delivers and protects content across PCs, smartphones, Tablets, and connected TVs.”

The Brightcove Video Paywall Solution Framework enables customers to deliver a fully-branded consumer experience for delivering subscription or pay-per-view access to paid video content and viewing the purchased content across PCs, smartphones, Tablets, smart TVs, and over-the-top (OTT) devices. The framework is comprised of six core components: registration and authentication that controls subscriber log-in and access; payment processing to help process subscription and pay-per-view fees; user management capabilities to store subscriber information and permissions; cross-Platform DRM for adherence to rights and licensing agreements across multiple device platforms; encryption to help protect content as it is delivered from source to screen; and navigation and discovery features to help viewers easily find the content they want.

The solution framework is embodied in reference applications, integration software, documentation, and cloud services from multiple vendors that have been integrated and tested together in the context of paid video content scenarios. Together, says Brightcove, these components provide an advanced starting point that accelerates time to market and reduces implementation risk and the complexity of paid video content projects.

“2012 is set to hammer the final nail in the coffin of the old idea that consumers won’t accept premium content distribution over the open internet,” says Dan Cryan, research director for Digital Media at IHS. “Key to this transition is the emergence of services that deliver content direct to the living room TV with the sort of user interfaces that finally unlock the long promised potential of on-demand content. The result is that Americans are expected to consume 1bn more movies online in 2012 than they will on physical media.”

The Video Paywall Solution Framework combines the Brightcove Video Cloud online video platform with essential enabling technologies from several Brightcove Alliance Partners for content protection, access control, and payments. Partner technologies include  Adobe Flash Access DRM technology, which is fully integrated into Brightcove Video Cloud to enable automated cloud-based packaging and encryption and secure playback on devices with Adobe Flash Player 10.1; Google Widevine DRM technology, providing cross-platform content protection across more than 440m devices, spanning many leading smartphone, Tablet, smart TV, gaming, and OTT platforms; Apple HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) Encryption, which is also incorporated into Brightcove Video Cloud, allowing encryption of streaming video content delivered on Apple iOS devices and many other consumer electronics platforms;  PayWizard, which provides payment and subscription management cloud services for payment gateways, e-wallets, vouchers, and subscription purchases that work across web browsers and apps on PCs, mobile devices and smart TV platforms; and TinyPass, a flexible, cloud-based solution that provides publishers a variety of models to charge for content, as well as analytics and consulting services.