NDS MediaHighway Enables New HbbTV Service from Alcatel-Lucent for Tele Columbus

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- Tele Columbus to launch new HbbTV service building on NDS set-top box software
- Solution to be showcased at ANGA Cable by both NDS (stand B18/10.2) and Alcatel-Lucent (stand D19/10.2)
- Partners to benefit from regional targeting capabilities

NDS, the leading provider of technology solutions for digital pay-TV, and Tele Columbus, one of the leading German cable operators, today announced their cooperation for the launch of a new HbbTV service. The new service will be developed and hosted by Alcatel-Lucent, running on NDS MediaHighway® set-top-box software.

In addition to their existing encrypted Free-TV and Pay-TV offering, the new HbbTV service will provide Tele Columbus with the opportunity to make supplementary content and services available to subscribers, including video streaming and regional programming. The HbbTV service will be delivered over broadband to hybrid IP enabled set-top boxes across the Tele Columbus network.

To facilitate the addition of value-added content and application-based services, Tele Columbus will work with content owners, publishing houses, web portals and regional companies to launch HbbTV applications within the Tele Columbus network. Partners will be provided with a template HbbTV application interface that can be tailored to their requirements and populated with content and information. New applications can either be made available across the entire Tele Columbus HbbTV network or targeted to specific regions and local areas.

Dietmar Schickel, Chief Commercial Officer with Tele Columbus explained: “The new HbbTV service will complement our linear and interactive TV product world as one of the most advanced offerings in the German market. We have prepared this step carefully by the launch of a new hybrid receiver population from the beginning of 2010. With NDS and Alcatel Lucent, we have found the right partners for the further strategic and technological development of our digital TV platform and hardware base.”

Tele Columbus already benefit from an end-to-end solution from NDS, including NDS MediaHighway set-top box software, NDS VideoGuard® content protection technology and the NDS XTV DVR solution.

Holger Preckel, head of Multimedia Integration Alcatel-Lucent Germany stated: “We are glad to work together with NDS to support Tele Columbus in the evolution of their leading and innovative product offering. This project is a great example on how our customers can benefit from Alcatel-Lucent’s SaaS driven iTV approach which enables Tele Columbus to extend their services in a very efficient and flexible way.”

Yves Padrines, NDS VP Sales Europe & General Manager NDS GmbH, said: “HbbTV is a great example of a service enhancement that can be easily deployed allowing to the flexibility of MediaHighway. We are proud to be enabling the technical basis for this innovative service in partnership with Alcatel-Lucent and look forward to supporting Tele Columbus throughout the deployment and beyond.”

Tele Columbus plan to launch the new HbbTV service towards the end of 2011.

About Tele Columbus
The Tele Columbus Group numbers among Germany's largest cable network operators and has been successful as a multimedia and telecommunications provider since 1985. Tele Columbus provides some 2.1 million connected households with a TV signal and increasingly more customers with digital program packages, Internet access and telephone connections via powerful broadband cable. As a national provider with regional focus and as a partner of the housing industry, the group is present in its entire core area of Berlin, Brandenburg, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Thueringen and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern as well as in numerous core regions in West Germany.

About NDS
NDS Group Ltd. creates the technologies and applications that enable pay-TV operators to securely deliver digital content to TV STBs (set-top boxes), DVRs (digital video recorders), PCs, mobiles and other multimedia devices. Over 80 of the world’s leading pay-TV platforms rely on NDS solutions to protect and enhance their businesses. VideoGuard® is the world’s market-leading conditional access (CA) and digital rights management (DRM) technology, currently deployed on 150 million active devices, and safeguarding pay-TV service revenues exceeding $50 billion. NDS middleware, including MediaHighway® which enables a host of advanced services for subscribers, has been deployed on 180 million devices. NDS DVR technology, centred around XTV™, leads the global industry with 38 million units deployed. (Deployment figures as of 31st March 2011).

Headquartered in the UK, NDS remains committed to investing in R&D with over 75% of its employees dedicated to pioneering work at development centres in China, France, India, Israel, Korea, UK and US. NDS has also implemented a host of initiatives aimed at reducing its carbon footprint and helping digital TV subscribers reduce energy consumption.

NDS Group Ltd. is a private company owned by the Permira Funds and News Corporation. See www.nds.com for more information.

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NDS Group Ltd.
One London Road / Staines
GB-TW18 4EX Middlesex
www.nds.com
NDS
Amy Lucas
Corporate Communications
Phone: +44 20 8476 8243
alucas@nds.com

Susbauer PR for NDS
Ansgar Gerber
Managing Partner
Phone: +49 40 3990 6357
a.gerber@susbauer.de

Tele Columbus
Hannes Lindhuber
Corporate Communications
Phone: +49 30 755 429-170
hannes.lindhuber@telecolumbus.de

This release was published on openPR.