Conditional Access

This topic applies to Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional only.

Conditional access provides a way to control a user’s access to a service, such as a TV program. Third parties create policies, which can limit the user's access unless the user meets certain requirements. For example, a policy might:

• Require the user to pay a subscription fee.
• Impose a one-time cost on a show (pay-per-view).
• Restrict viewing based on content ratings (parental policy).

Microsoft TV Technologies provides a flexible architecture for conditional access. It can support numerous scenarios beyond the ones listed.

This section contains the following topics:

• Overview of Conditional Access
• Conditional Access for Client Applications (C++)
• Writing Policies and Tolls (C++)
• Using Conditional Access in Visual Basic

Note   This documentation uses the abbreviation CA for Microsoft TV Conditional Access. Do not confuse this with Certificate Authentication or Certification Authority, terms which are also commonly abbreviated as CA.