Unified Streaming and castLabs introduce high-frequency key rotation for secure live streaming

AMSTERDAM and BERLIN, March 27, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Unified Streaming and castLabs are introducing a new high-frequency key rotation solution designed to enhance content security while ensuring seamless scalability. The innovation improves the protection of premium content, including live sports and movie premieres, from piracy and unauthorized access by rotating DRM (digital rights management) keys every 10 seconds.

A live demo of the solution will be showcased at NAB Show in Las Vegas, April 6–9, 2025.

Unlike traditional periodic key rotation, which can strain DRM servers and drive up costs, this approach optimizes efficiency without added complexity. In traditional setups, key rotation intervals were much longer - sometimes per session or every few minutes - because more frequent rotations would overwhelm DRM servers with excessive license requests, making it impractical for large-scale events.

The new high-frequency key rotation method minimizes redundant requests by embedding key rotation metadata in the stream, enabling players to anticipate key changes and distribute requests more efficiently.

In the first iteration of the collaborative project, the high-frequency key rotation demo synchronizes key components of a streaming workflow. The video packager, Unified Packager, from Unified Streaming, integrates with DRMtoday, castLabs' license delivery network, and runs seamlessly on PRESTOplay, castLabs' video player technology.

One of the major challenges in implementing frequent key rotation has been the associated costs, as every license key request incurs charges. The Unified Streaming and castLabs partnership confronts the key rotation cost conundrum via the player's unique interaction with the DRM provider.

The demo will be introduced at both companies' booths at NAB Show: W.3458 (Unified Streaming) and W.2369 (castLabs).

Visitors will see a seamless stream with key rotation occurring every 10 seconds, using DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP). The demonstration will highlight which video segments are encrypted with specific keys, and how players request licenses at different intervals - an approach that prevents server overloads and ensures smooth playback at scale.

Live sports streaming is a highly valuable market segment where security and scalability are critical. Implementing high-frequency key rotation safeguards premium live events and helps content owners protect their assets, while maintaining operational efficiency.

"At Unified Streaming, we take pride in not only contributing to industry research and professional groups but also in enabling real-world solutions. Our strategic goal is to drive efficiency at every level. By introducing high-frequency key rotation, we are taking a proactive step in tackling piracy, ensuring content owners can protect their assets without compromising scalability or cost-effectiveness," said Unified Streaming CTO Arjen Wagenaar.

"At castLabs, we are committed to delivering cutting-edge DRM and playback solutions that enable seamless, secure streaming at scale. Our collaboration with Unified Streaming on high-frequency key rotation ensures content owners can achieve the highest level of protection without sacrificing performance or efficiency," said Thasso Griebel, castLabs' technical lead for player development.

Join Unified Streaming and castLabs at NAB Show 2025 to see this pioneering solution in action, and to learn how high-frequency key rotation is setting a new standard for secure, scalable live streaming.

About castLabs

castLabs is a leading pioneer of software and cloud services for digital video markets worldwide to easily enable premium content streaming. Their range of applications and services is designed to help businesses deliver high-quality video experiences through protected content playback over a large selection of devices and platforms. castLabs solutions include DRMtoday multi-DRM and CAS licensing, feature-rich PRESTOplay cross-platform players, Video Toolkit cloud encoding and single-frame watermarking, Widevine device and app certification, secure WebRTC end-to-end delivery, as well as expert technical consulting. Learn more at castlabs.com.

About Unified Streaming

Unified Streaming is a creator of world-class streaming technologies and an authority in defining industry-advancing standards and specifications.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Amsterdam, Unified Streaming leads the new wave of content aggregation, providing tools for dynamic and static packaging, capture, and enhanced playlist technology. By building stable and dependable software, Unified Streaming helps customers solve complex streaming challenges.

Companies deploy Unified solutions not just to unlock creative new ways for personalizing, protecting, and repurposing their content, but also to create great value.

With over 140 broadcasters, telcos, streaming platforms, content creators, and ecosystem partners worldwide, Unified Streaming produces software that is under the hood of the largest and best-known streaming platforms and services.

CONTACT: Burcin Aksay, 
Communications and Events Manager, castLabs
burcin.aksay@castlabs.com