Launched in September 2016, TVkey is designed to enable consumers to sign up for pay-TV services directly on select new Samsung TVs, while meeting the MovieLabs requirements for enhanced content protection such as 4K and HDR. It is claimed to offer the quickest and lowest cost route to market for 4KTV/Ultra HD services without requiring additional pay-TV operator investment in set-top boxes (STBs).

In January, NAGRA and Samsung agreed to establish a new co-venture to license TVkey technology to industry stakeholders including chipset, dongle, TV and conditional access vendors.

During a promotional period, buyers of compatible Samsung TV sets at participating dealers in Germany will receive the HD+ TVkey free of charge by registering on the HD+ website. This also entitles them to a free six-month HD+ subscription, which upon expiration, can be converted to a regular subscription.

“The HD+ TVkey gives consumers HD+ channels without the need of a separate receiver or conditional access module (CAM) with smartcard – meaning access to HD+ becomes even easier,” said Georges Agnes, managing director and COO at HD PLUS GmbH, a subsidiary of operator SES. “Working with Samsung also gives us the ability to reach new customers as soon as they buy a new television through instant HD+ service activation. And because the solution uses the security we know and trust from NAGRA, we know our content partners will be satisfied.”

“We are providing consumers and pay-TV operators with a flexible and cost effective route to high quality services, while offering state-of-the-art pay-TV security,” said Pierre Roy, executive VP and COO, digital TV at NAGRA. “By integrating our latest content protection technology alongside open standards, such as USB and HbbTV/HTML5, we not only ensure excellent security, but also deliver a feature-rich, operator-branded user experience directly to the consumer’s TV.”