Abstract: A method for managing unprotected and protected content in a private network, the method including the steps of: receiving content; retrieving metadata associated with the received content; determining whether the received content is unprotected or protected based on the associated metadata; for unprotected content, allowing the unprotected content to be selectively stored, managed and distributed in the private network based on the associated metadata; for protected content, identifying a content protection system associated with the protected content based on the associated metadata, and performing at least one of: displaying information to a user of the private network facilitating retrieval of one or more hardware/software components required by the associated content protection system; retrieving the one or more required hardware/software components; verifying that the one or more required hardware/software components are present in the private network, before allowing the protected content to be selecti