To support and build on the significant growth of its digital pay-TV customer base in Germany and Austria, NDS opened its latest facility in Munich in late July.

“NDS GmbH will serve as the central hub for NDS’ support operations for customers in the region,” says Yves Padrines, Vice President, Business Development and General Manager NDS GmbH. “In addition to support for all NDS customers in Germany, the new office will have its own R&D team that will focus on the requirements of the German pay-TV market,” he says.`

“NDS is honoured to be the partner of choice of the leading pay-TV providers and platform operators in this important market,” he says. “The opening of our new office will allow us to enhance our reach and our local support capabilities to serve existing and future customers.”

NDS currently has five customers in Germany and Austria: Premiere (satellite and cable), Kabel BW (cable), Arcor (telco/IPTV), Tele Columbus (cable) and Telekom Austria (telco/IPTV).

Premiere: German pay-TV leader

Premiere is the leading pay-TV operator in Germany and Austria. Its satellite and cable platform reaches an estimated 11 million viewers in more than four million subscriber homes. Premiere‘s system relies on NDS MediaHighway® middleware and VideoGuard® conditional access.

“Premiere began the switch to NDS encryption earlier in the summer,” Padrines says. “Many of the already deployed set-top boxes have been downloaded with NDS conditional access. Legacy smart cards have also been swapped with NDS cards,” he says. “In addition, all new satellite set-top boxes will be integrated with VideoGuard.”

“Like other NDS customers, Premiere selected VideoGuard because of its success in securing digital pay-TV platforms around the world,” Padrines explains. NDS CA and DRM technology currently protects over 90.3 million digital devices worldwide.

“Our customers understand that effective security is a prerequisite if they want to achieve sustainable high growth for their operations,” Padrines says.

“Platforms like Premiere are also attracted by the potential for developing new services based on NDS’ end-to-end digital TV solution including NDS MediaHighway middleware and NDS DVR,” he says.

Premiere is also deploying MediaHighway-equipped hybrid STBs, enabling them to benefit from the flexible delivery of value-added interactive services using their broadband network.

KabelBW: First to introduce triple play

With 2.3 million subscribers, Kabel BW is one of Germany’s largest digital cable TV operators. Located in Baden-Württemberg in the southwest of the country, it is one of the first major cable providers to introduce triple play services (digital cable TV, broadband Internet access and telephony services) and was NDS' first CA deployment in Germany.

“KBW switched off its incumbent CA system in May and swapped all existing smart cards for NDS VideoGuard. The main reasons they chose VideoGuard are the flexibility and the strong product roadmap we offer,” Padrines says.

“KBW indicated that having an independent technology platform based on VideoGuard enables them to react quickly and successfully in terms of meeting customer demands and market challenges,” Padrines says.

Arcor: IPTV with advanced services

At the beginning of 2008, Arcor, Germany’s second largest telco, chose NDS VideoGuard to secure its new IPTV service. Arcor-Digital TV. Initially it launched in 51 cities and communities. It offers digital TV including advanced services such as VOD.

Arcor operates a nationwide broadband network with a DSL subscriber base in excess of two million connections. It is owned by Vodafone, the global cellular provider.

Arcor chose the NDS VideoGuard Server™ solution for its new IPTV platform because the server-based content protection solution is designed for always-on two-way networks such as DSL and digital cable.

“In developing a new IPTV platform, customers like Arcor stress the need for flexibility, security and cost-effectiveness,” Padrines says. “The VideoGuard suite meets all these requirements.”

“As partner to Arcor, NDS can help them develop their IPTV service, bringing new information and entertainment services to the German market,” he says.

Tele Columbus: Networks with VideoGuard protection

With an estimated 3.7 million subscriber households, the Tele Columbus Group is Germany’s third largest cable provider. Its services include digital TV, Internet and telephone via broadband. Customers can subscribe to individual services or to their triple play all-in-one package.

The Tele Columbus Group operates a large number of independent networks with headends that receive signals directly from its own digital platform. The group recently began using NDS VideoGuard to protect its networks.

“VideoGuard enables Tele Columbus to protect their digital content while encouraging development of a new generation of both digital free-to-air and pay-TV channels,” Padrines says. All new subscribers to the Tele Columbus service receive equipment based on NDS VideoGuard.

“By deploying VideoGuard, Tele Columbus has the flexibility to support the future launch of integrated services such as DVRs, pay-per-view (PPV), video-on-demand (VOD) and a variety of other added-value services,” Padrines says.

“What is unique about this deployment is that their existing subscribers will not have to buy new set-top boxes because Tele Columbus will deploy a customer-friendly Simulcrypt solution,” Padrines says. Many of these boxes will also feature an Ethernet connection for transporting content via IP.

Telekom Austria: Multichannel pay-TV, VOD services

Telekom Austria is the country’s leading telco. It has international operations in the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia and Liechtenstein. It has been an NDS customer since January 2006.

Telekom Austria uses VideoGuard content protection and DRM for delivery of multichannel pay-TV and VOD services over a broadband connection.

In 2005 it launched its branded aonDigital TV hybrid IP STB as an alternative to satellite and cable TV offerings.

Strong growth       

“NDS has made real progress in the German pay-TV market and now we have a significant base of customers,” Padrines says. “Our first priority is to support them and to complete our current projects. This includes delivering new products and services. At the same time, we are in touch with all other market players,” he says.

“Opening the NDS office in Munich enables us to develop business in one of Europe’s largest and most innovative pay-TV markets,” Padrines says. “Combining our global reach with a local presence benefits all the players and the consumer,” he says.