Widevine and Microsoft team up for DRM on Silverlight

Microsoft has its own kind of DRM in Silverlight which is based on the DRM found in Windows Media but it sounds like they're also working with Widevine to Silverlight-enable their Cypher service which also works with Flash and the On2 codec.

In general, I don't think this is a huge deal, but it is interesting. Widevine has gotten quite a bit of funding and is placing itself squarely in the middle of content providers and the technologies that would enable distribution. In some ways they're looking to be a Switzerland of DRM in which they can offer a DRM solution that the content providers would support on any platform they want to use, Flash, Silverlight, whatever. One thing that Widevine appears to do very well is work with studios.

Adobe announced it's own DRM for Flash Video earlier this year and I'm not sure if we've worked with Widevine since that announcement at all. The previous Flash DRM support was through On2 and not Adobe as I understood it. Is the role of a 3rd party DRM solution a good one for content providers and consumers?

The rich media world is heating up from all angles.