A source device comprising: a processor; a persistent storage having stored therein at least a first set of sink device verification parameters (162, 164) derived from a legacy version of a secure master key and a second set of sink device verification parameters (166, 168) derived from a newer version of the secure master key, wherein the secure master key is utilized to enable the prevention of content transmission from the source device to a sink device that has not been authorized to receive such content, and wherein the sink device verification parameters comprise a key selector vector, KSV, and a private key, PKey; a first communication interface coupled to the processor by which one or more sink devices can connect to the source device and which receives, from a connected sink device, handshake credentials, including sink device identifying data, during an initial handshake with the connected sink device; authentication firmware that executes on the processor and which: performs the initial handshake with a connected sink device, in response to receiving from the sink device a set of handshake credentials, parses the handshake credentials for a sink PKey, compares the sink PKey to a first PKey and a second PKey of the sink device verification parameters, responsive to the sink PKey matching one of the first PKey and the second PKey, approves the sink device handshake and verifies the connected sink device as a verified and approved sink device, and responsive to the verifiable handshake data derived from at least one of the secure master keys matching a set of sink device verification parameters, automatically approves the connected sink device to receive content from the source device; and content delivery firmware that executes on the processor and which determines a service tier for content delivery to an approved, connected sink device based on the version of the secure master key from which the verified handshake data of the connected sink device was derived; wherein at least one of (a) content protected via the new version of the secure master key and (b) certain advanced features of all content are prevented from being transmitted to the approved, connected sink device in response to the service tier for content delivery being a first service tier associated with the legacy version of the secure master key. a processor; a persistent storage having stored therein at least a first set of sink device verification parameters (162, 164) derived from a legacy version of a secure master key and a second set of sink device verification parameters (166, 168) derived from a newer version of the secure master key, wherein the secure master key is utilized to enable the prevention of content transmission from the source device to a sink device that has not been authorized to receive such content, and wherein the sink device verification parameters comprise a key selector vector, KSV, and a private key, PKey; a first communication interface coupled to the processor by which one or more sink devices can connect to the source device and which receives, from a connected sink device, handshake credentials, including sink device identifying data, during an initial handshake with the connected sink device; authentication firmware that executes on the processor and which: performs the initial handshake with a connected sink device, in response to receiving from the sink device a set of handshake credentials, parses the handshake credentials for a sink PKey, compares the sink PKey to a first PKey and a second PKey of the sink device verification parameters, responsive to the sink PKey matching one of the first PKey and the second PKey, approves the sink device handshake and verifies the connected sink device as a verified and approved sink device, and responsive to the verifiable handshake data derived from at least one of the secure master keys matching a set of sink device verification parameters, automatically approves the connected sink device to receive content from the source device; and performs the initial handshake with a connected sink device, in response to receiving from the sink device a set of handshake credentials, parses the handshake credentials for a sink PKey, compares the sink PKey to a first PKey and a second PKey of the sink device verification parameters, responsive to the sink PKey matching one of the first PKey and the second PKey, approves the sink device handshake and verifies the connected sink device as a verified and approved sink device, and responsive to the verifiable handshake data derived from at least one of the secure master keys matching a set of sink device verification parameters, automatically approves the connected sink device to receive content from the source device; and content delivery firmware that executes on the processor and which determines a service tier for content delivery to an approved, connected sink device based on the version of the secure master key from which the verified handshake data of the connected sink device was derived; wherein at least one of (a) content protected via the new version of the secure master key and (b) certain advanced features of all content are prevented from being transmitted to the approved, connected sink device in response to the service tier for content delivery being a first service tier associated with the legacy version of the secure master key.