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From the link above.
NDS wins Foxtel's first digital deal
Jane Schulze
APRIL 07, 2003
PAY-TV group Foxtel has begun laying the foundations of its $600 million digital pay-TV service by awarding a far-reaching multi-million-dollar contract for its digital technology systems to NDS.
The contract is believed to be the second largest on offer for the digital rollout, coming only behind the tender for digital set-top boxes (STBs). The contract with NDS, which is 80 per cent owned by News Corporation, names it the prime systems integrator for the digitised Foxtel.
That means NDS must pull together all information technology, communications and TV systems needed to create a seamless interactive pay-TV platform.
Industry sources estimate this part of the contract alone to be worth tens of millions of dollars.
News owns The Australian but also has 25 per cent of Foxtel and manages the pay-TV business.
NDS will also work with Foxtel to create its digital electronic program guide, and NDS's VideoGuard conditional access system will be introduced across Foxtel to prevent pay-TV piracy.
Unlike some other interactive TV systems, the NDS software will ensure interactive applications are synchronised with the TV program on air at the time.
NDS will also have full responsibility for managing the "return path" needed to ensure two-way interactive TV.
Foxtel has also agreed to introduce NDS's XTV personal video recorder, which enables subscribers to record live TV to later skip ads or to bookmark TV programs. That service is scheduled to be rolled out 12 months after Foxtel's digital launch.
Although Foxtel slated October as the date for its digital conversion, the failed launch of Optus's C1 satellite has pushed the date back to January 2004.
That date also depends on final scrutiny by the competition regulator of Foxtel's content-sharing deal with rival Optus, a decision on which is due later this year.
NDS also provides similar services to News's other pay-TV businesses in the UK and New Zealand, but Foxtel sources said this tender was open to competition.
Foxtel chief executive Kim Williams said NDS offered the best solutions for Foxtel.
"Foxtel is leading the development of digital TV in Australia and our alliance with NDS will enable us to deliver innovative new services reliably and securely," he said.
NDS general manager for Australia and New Zealand Peter Iles said its technology would be included in the Foxtel digital broadcast centre now being built in North Sydney and in its STBs.
The technology in the STBs enables the boxes to receive the information from Foxtel, unscramble it and play it out on TVs. NDS already provides similar systems to Foxtel's cable analogue service.
Mr Iles said regional pay-TV group Austar would still be able to take Foxtel's programs via satellite even though it used a different encryption system.
NDS would "simulcrypt" the satellite feed, he said.
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