Patent ID: 8098820

Claim:
A method for managing access to a restricted transmitted event, said method comprising: receiving encrypted access information associated with said transmitted event from a particular one of a plurality of service providers, the encrypted access information from each of said plurality of service providers being encrypted with a first global public key shared among said plurality of service providers, said received access information comprising data corresponding to the cost of said transmitted event; decrypting said received access information in a conditional access module using a first global private key associated with the first global public key and shared among a plurality of subscribers, wherein the first global public key and the first global private key are replaced with a second global public key shared among a plurality of service providers, and a second global private key shared among a plurality of subscribers, respectively; verifying, in said conditional access module, that the cost of said transmitted event is less than a pre-stored cash reserve; receiving said transmitted event from said service provider, said transmitted event being scrambled; and descrambling said transmitted event in said conditional access module.