Microsoft, AT&T plug PlayReady / Silverlight DRM into U-verse without saying why
By Richard Lawler 
posted Mar 31st 2009 5:07PM
posted Mar 31st 2009 5:07PM
Microsoft's PlayReady DRM hasn't exactly set the world on fire since first popping up over two years ago on a bevy of wireless carriers, so we were surprised by today's news that it's being integrated into the MediaRoom IPTV platform, specifically AT&T's U-verse service. A Microsoft exec quoted saying "Through the power of software such as PlayReady and Mediaroom, AT&T will bring its customers an exciting new range of services and content" doesn't help, since that power has lead to very little over the last two years with one exception. This is the same Windows Media Player 10 compatible DRM used by Silverlight plugins, like the ones for Netflix and Sky Player TV, so while we'll make the leap of dreaming about Instant Watch coming to AT&T set-top boxes, reality is probably not only something entirely different, but also considerably more like the Xbox 360 IPTV fantasy & other Mediaroom features that have yet to see any release.
Microsoft DRM is the real "bag of hurt".
Too bad for Microsoft. If they are using Windows Media 10 DRM, hah, it is crackable. You can still strip the DRM off of WMA encoded files using a windows xp os, Windows media player 11 beta or older Windows media player 10 and FairUse4WM.exe
I think the title is wrong. Should read, "Microsoft dumps another bag of cash on AT&T to earn Silverlight market share"