KabelBW, the cable operator serving Baden-Württemberg in southwestern Germany, is one of the first large German cable TV providers to introduce triple play services -- including analog and digital cable TV, high speed broadband Internet (up to 25 Mbps) and telephone services. With 2.3 million subscribers, it is one of the largest cable operators in Europe. KabelBW offers more than 80 analog channels and over 600 digital programs (including HDTV). For the fiscal year 2006 their estimated revenues increased from €255 million to more than €280 million.

Michael Söllner is Head of Security for KBW, has a degree in electrical engineering and worked for Hewlett-Packard Germany in a variety of positions for 17 years. In 2001 he joined the Kirch Group as head of electronic security. The following year the department came under Premiere, the major German national pay-TV operator. While with Premiere Söllner was active in implementing anti-piracy measures and helped evaluate new conditional access systems. In August 2006 Söllner became head of security systems for KabelBW. As such, he played a pivotal role in the process of choosing and deploying their new conditional access system.

Söllner recently spoke to World Vision about the process and why VideoGuard® conditional access from NDS met their requirements.

World Vision: Could you give me some background about KabelBW?

Söllner: In 1999 the TV cable networks that were established by Deutsche Telecom were privatized. At that time the country was split into nine large cable TV regions. We were established in Baden-Württemberg. In 2001 our cable TV region was sold to a private investor EQT.

Today our area of operation is still Baden Württemberg where KabelBW has 2.3 million active connected homes. This means these homes either have a basic subscription or a pay-TV subscription with us. Our network is connected to 3 million households.

How is your company’s relationship with Kabel Deutschland going to change?

Söllner: Since the introduction of privatization, we receive TV platform services from Kabel Deutschland. This includes both pay-TV content as well as conditional access services. The CA services agreement will end in August and KabelBW will deploy its own CA system provided by NDS.

What led you to choose NDS VideoGuard to replace your legacy system?

The changes in our relationship with Kabel Deutschland gave us the opportunity to consider changing and improving our overall offering. As part of this process we conducted an evaluation of various parts of our business – including conditional access. We considered four different vendors.

In the end, we decided to go with NDS for several reasons:

First, from the beginning of this process NDS showed us how they would support our migration. They've been very proactive in suggesting migration paths and we felt that they would provide excellent support.

Second, NDS security. We realized not only that NDS provides superior security but also that one of the reasons the VideoGuard® system hasn’t been hacked is the company’s successful approach in preventing piracy.

Third, NDS offers the best support for our future business applications.

What part does the switch to NDS VideoGuard play in your being able to operate an independent digital pay-TV offering?

Söllner: Since KabelBW is offering free-to-air as well as pay-TV services, having our own conditional access system is a central component in becoming independent. We were impressed with the functionality NDS offers. We chose VideoGuard when NDS was able to show us a migration path for our receivers that was based on exchanging the software.

You are also implementing NDS MediaHighway™ middleware. How does it fit into your system?

Söllner: For the German market there is only one relevant middleware set-top box in use. It was developed by Premiere and includes MediaHighway from NDS. Part of our migration process is to use these receivers and market them as a component of our cable network. Basically, MediaHighway offers good support for our business models.

What future services are you considering?

Söllner: KabelBW is in the process of formulating its road map. We are considering applications like VOD, interactivity, telephony, email support and games.

What has been your experience working with NDS?

Söllner: I personally began working with NDS in September 2006 when I initiated discussions about a system evaluation. At the time I was impressed by their responsiveness and by the fact that they were very proactive.

Now that we are in the midst of the migration project I'm even more impressed by their professionalism as well. We have a rather difficult environment since we have to cooperate with KDG, Premiere, and receiver manufacturers. NDS support is essential for us to be able to provide a seamless migration for our customers.

For more information:

Kabel BW