Whitepaper

Cloud Video Platform Grant/Deny Service whitepaper

Turn rights compliance into revenue

August 5, 2024

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Every time a viewer presses play, your platform has to decide whether that stream is allowed. The Grant/Deny Service (GDS) in the Cloud Video Platform (CVP)  from Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) makes that call using entitlements computed ahead of time and stored in a graph database. In production, GDS answers playback requests five times faster than the legacy system it replaced.

That speed matters most at tentpole moments. When a high-profile live match starts, demand surges, latency targets tighten and every entitlement check sits between a paying viewer and the first frame. A slow answer frustrates that viewer. A wrong one puts licensed content at risk.

By the numbers

  • 5x faster responses to playback requests than the legacy entitlement system
  • Introduced in 2024 and deployed first in Europe
  • Works with FairPlay, Widevine and PlayReady

What's inside

  • How GDS separates grant/deny decisions from downstream service dependencies, so playback no longer waits on other systems
  • Why a graph database, with users, rights and content linked directly, returns answers faster than index-based lookups
  • How precomputing removes the repeated evaluation of subject policies and distribution rights at request time
  • How GDS scales for live sports surges and peak viewing, even during system updates and maintenance
  • Where GDS fits in the CTS anti-piracy roadmap, including programmable concurrency management and fast DRM key rotation

Get the full Grant/Deny Service guide

 

Frequently asked questions

The Grant/Deny Service (GDS) is a cloud-native, precomputed entitlements system in the Comcast Technology Solutions Cloud Video Platform. It decides whether a viewer can play a piece of content, using entitlements worked out ahead of time and stored in a graph database. CTS introduced GDS in 2024.

Precomputed entitlements are access decisions calculated before a viewer presses play. When the request arrives, the platform looks up the answer instead of working it out on the spot. In production, this approach has made GDS five times faster at answering playback requests than the legacy system it replaced.

A graph database stores records as nodes that link directly to one another, instead of joining tables through indexes when a query runs. For entitlements, the links between a viewer, their rights, and the content are already in place, so GDS can check them quickly.

Because entitlements are already computed, GDS needs much less computing power at request time. The Cloud Video Platform can scale resources up or down across regions to meet demand surges during high-profile live sports and peak viewing, including during system updates or maintenance.

An entitlement describes the end user, the protected content they can access, when they can access it and the devices they can use. For example, a "bronze" subscription tier might include all entertainment content but no sports.

GDS enforces entitlements consistently, which reduces manual checks and discretionary decisions during high-profile events. It is also the foundation CTS builds on for anti-piracy capabilities such as programmable concurrency management and fast DRM key rotation.

 

Please note, this whitepaper was last updated on August 12, 2025.

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