If you've been wondering why service providers aren't rolling out IPTV services faster, then you're not thinking like a security pro. The answers are, in order: security and security.

Until recently, the fledgling services have been faced with two major problems: how to protect the copyrights of television content and how to affordably protect the IP networks that carry the signal from external attacks. But experts now say the first problem is under control, and there are emerging technologies that could solve the second.

The first hurdle is essentially a digital rights management issue: How can the service provider restrict access of IPTV content only to paying customers, and how can it restrict the customer's ability to copy and distribute copyrighted content?

In the past year, however, several vendors have attacked that problem. One such vendor is Helius, which now offers MediaLock, a system that encrypts signal transmission between the service provider's content delivery systems and the customer's set-top box. The encryption ensures that only the paying customer can receive and descramble the IPTV content -- and cannot send it to anyone else.

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— Tim Wilson, Site Editor, Dark Reading