Conditional Access Module

A Conditional Access Module (CAM) is an electronic device, usually incorporating a slot for a smart card, which gives a DVB television or set-top box with the appropriate hardware the facility to decrypt scrambled programmes. They are normally used with direct broadcast satellite services, although the UK digital terrestrial pay TV supplier Top Up TV also uses CAMs.

Some encryption systems for which CAMs are available are Viaccess, Mediaguard and Irdeto.

The standard format for a CAM is a PCMCIA card which takes a smart card to authenticate, although CAM's with the 'smart card' burnt into memory can be found.