A machine readable medium storing executable program instructions which when executed by a data processing system cause the data processing system to perform a method to set up a device, the method comprising: establishing, by the device, communication with one or more activation servers to set up the device, the device comprising a generic streaming media device which is capable of setting up an account with an online streaming media source; providing, by the device to the one or more activation servers, a device identifier that identifies the device to a multichannel content provider, the device identifier having been associated with the multichannel content provider through a prior action by the multi-channel content provider or by a developer of the device or by a developer of an operating system of the device; receiving, at the device in response to providing the device identifier, a device profile containing data associated with the multichannel content provider for the device, the device profile including a device token for the device that was associated with the device through the prior action, and wherein the device profile is associated with the device identifier through the prior action, and receiving an endpoint identifier of the multichannel content provider; establishing, by the device using the endpoint identifier, communication with one or more servers used by the multichannel content provider and sending, by the device to the one or more servers used by the multichannel content provider, the device token; exchanging, by the device in background operations of the device, one or more messages with the one or more servers used by the multichannel content provider to authenticate the device for a content delivery service through the multichannel content provider without requiring user input to perform the authentication, wherein the content delivery service uses a conditional access system for at least some of the content delivered through the multichannel content provider. establishing, by the device, communication with one or more activation servers to set up the device, the device comprising a generic streaming media device which is capable of setting up an account with an online streaming media source; providing, by the device to the one or more activation servers, a device identifier that identifies the device to a multichannel content provider, the device identifier having been associated with the multichannel content provider through a prior action by the multi-channel content provider or by a developer of the device or by a developer of an operating system of the device; receiving, at the device in response to providing the device identifier, a device profile containing data associated with the multichannel content provider for the device, the device profile including a device token for the device that was associated with the device through the prior action, and wherein the device profile is associated with the device identifier through the prior action, and receiving an endpoint identifier of the multichannel content provider; establishing, by the device using the endpoint identifier, communication with one or more servers used by the multichannel content provider and sending, by the device to the one or more servers used by the multichannel content provider, the device token; exchanging, by the device in background operations of the device, one or more messages with the one or more servers used by the multichannel content provider to authenticate the device for a content delivery service through the multichannel content provider without requiring user input to perform the authentication, wherein the content delivery service uses a conditional access system for at least some of the content delivered through the multichannel content provider.