Abstract: A system (100) and method (200) for delivering conditional access information to a conditional access controlled device (120) incompatible with the conditional access transmission protocol. The conditional access information is delivered through a conditional access controlled device (110) compatible with the conditional access transmission protocol via a home network connection (130) between the conditional access controlled devices and according to a home network transmission protocol with which both conditional access controlled devices are compatible.

Abstract: A method (400) for managing a data stream (30) encoded according to a digital transmission protocol and configured for broadcasting to a consumer network device (14) within a broadband communications network (10). A message relating to the data stream is encapsulated (402) within a transport layer data packet (502). The packet has a destination port number field. A value associated with a predetermined parameter of the digital transmission protocol is created (404) within the field. Based on the value, the packet is forwarded (406) to the consumer network device according to a network layer protocol. When the forwarded message is received by the consumer network device, the consumer network device processes the data stream based on the message, and establishes an application layer communication socket based on the destination port number value. The socket is usable to receive further messages associated with the predetermined parameter of the digital transmission protocol.