Pre-entitlement enforcement

1. An access control module comprising:

circuitry configured to:

receive a first entitlement message, which is a security message transmitted periodically, wherein the first entitlement message comprises entitlement data comprising an expiry time, access data enabling access to protected media content until the expiry time and an indicator data,

determine whether an entitlement message is a first received entitlement message by verifying if entitlement data has already been stored,

store entitlement data of the first entitlement message into a memory,

receive access information comprising a current time and a descrambling key,

compare the current time with the expiry time and decrypt the descrambling key with a decryption key of the access data, and grant access to the protected content in response of a positive comparison,

receive a subsequent entitlement message,

update the expiry time based on the expiry time including in the subsequent entitlement messages if the subsequent entitlement message includes an expiry time identifier that matches an expiry time identifier included in the indicator data included in the first entitlement message, the expiry time identifier being a counter value, and

reject the subsequent entitlement message if entitlement data of the first entitlement message has been stored into the memory and if the subsequent entitlement message does not include the expiry time identifier that matches the expiry time identifier included in the indicator data of the first entitlement message.

2. The access control module according to claim 1 , wherein entitlement data comprises an identifier specific to the expiry time.

3. The access control module according to claim 2 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

store verification data enabling verification of the identifier in a one-time programmable memory;

prior to using entitlement data to access media content, determine if the identifier of the entitlement data matches the verification data; and

prevent use of the entitlement data to access media content if the identifier of the entitlement data does not match the verification data.

4. The access control module according to claim 3 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

irreversibly physically alter the one-time programmable memory when storing data in the one-time programmable memory.

5. A content consumption device comprising:

the access control module according to claim 3 ;

a receiver to receive protected content and entitlement messages;

a descrambler to descramble the protected content using control data derived from the access data; and

a video processor to generate a video signal from the descrambled content.

6. The access control module according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to store the entitlement data in volatile memory.

7. The access control module according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

store the entitlement data in a one-time programmable memory; and

prevent use of entitlement data comprising indicator data not stored in the one-time programmable memory.

8. The access control module according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is configured to:

determine, at the time of receiving the entitlement data, if the received entitlement data was received after previous entitlement data comprising indicator data has been stored in the access control module; and

prevent storing of or to delete the entitlement data in response to the determination if the determination is affirmative.