Officials with Eagle Broadband, Inc. announced that the company has been awarded a new patent on its advanced set-top box technology that ensures secure delivery of digital television content.

The company's recently patented technology (U.S. Patent 7,159,044) virtually eliminates the risk of unauthorized network access and theft of digital content in hotels, condominium buildings and local cable companies that provide IPTV cable television services. Television programming and access to a main network can be "unlocked" by an in-room set-top box only if both the proper software and hardware (set-top box) are operating normally.

Without this feature, the functionality of set-top boxes can be easily manipulated by those with a basic understanding of how the technology works. By either manipulating the hardware or installing the software on other devices, a hacker could potentially access and/or record television programming, or even break into a hotel, condominium or cable company network.

Eagle's patented technology prevents such hacking by requiring the original hardware and software to run simultaneously before delivering digital content. If either part of the chain runs in an unexpected manner, this patented technology shuts off the hardware, thus locking out unauthorized access to the network.

This technology is expected to appeal to hotels and other digital content providers, as it will prevent the loss of revenue associated with pirated pay-per-view programming. The stronger network security is also an attractive feature to anyone providing IPTV content, including Eagle Broadband.