Absolutely it will limit what studios allow--as in the major studios will allow nothing. HTML5 video only supports standard HTTP download of a single unencrypte

Absolutely it will limit what studios allow--as in the major studios will allow nothing. HTML5 video only supports standard HTTP download of a single unencrypted stream, and I'm not clear on how a token scheme will provide any real security for that unencrypted stream. There are the bandwidth-divining problems since you'll want a higher quality stream on a fast connection than a slow one and HTML5 video has no built-in way to do that. On iOS you can use HTTP Live Streaming via Safari, but if you depend on that you're locked into a single platform. What is driving your startup to use HTML5 video? Are you trying to avoid licensing fees for DRM technologies? A lot of these problems can be overcome if you build an app, perhaps it's possible to use a hybrid approach in PhoneGap so you can maintain a HTML UI but play video via a proprietary video library that supports DRM.