Serbia Broadband Chooses NDS to Protect and Power its Digital Cable Business, Further Extending Partnership

Tuesday, September 4th, 2007

  • NDS to supply Serbia Broadband (SBB) with conditional access, middleware and electronic program guide (EPG) for its national cable television network
  • NDS already provides SBB with VideoGuard Express™ for its direct-to-home (DTH) satellite television service
  • Extension means that NDS is able to seamlessly secure and enable SBB’s DTH and cable platforms from a unified headend

LONDON, UK – IBC Stand 1.171 — NDS, the leading provider of technology solutions for digital pay-TV, today announced that it has signed a contract to provide Serbia Broadband (SBB), the largest cable operator in Serbia, with an end-to-end system to secure and enable its national cable television platform. NDS already provides its VideoGuard Express system to SBB’s direct-to-home (DTH) satellite television service, which incorporates NDS’ conditional access, Mediahighway® middleware and electronic program guide (EPG).

Under the terms of the agreement, NDS will equip SBB’s cable network with VideoGuard conditional access, which secures service revenues of over $32 billion worldwide; MediaHighway middleware, which powers over 61 million set-top boxes (STBs); and its EPG solution. New cable STBs will be similar to SBB’s existing DTH units, and are to be rolled out in the coming months.

Commenting on the news, Jeremy Maddocks, NDS Business Development Director for Central and Eastern Europe, said, “Serbia Broadband has achieved incredible growth in the last few years and is one of the most innovative companies in Serbia. We are very happy to announce the extension of our relationship with SBB to now protect and enable their cable platform, which is the largest in the country.” He continued, “This demonstrates NDS’s unique capability to deliver a robust and secure multiplatform television service from a unified headend, and we look forward to continuing our successful partnership with SBB.”

Dragan Solak, CEO of Serbia Broadband, commented, “After a very competitive bidding process, we chose NDS for our cable network based on the strength of our existing relationship and their ability to provide a combined solution for both of our TV platforms.” He added, “SBB has more then 90% broadband enabled subscribers and we are very excited about the transition of our video service to digital. NDS has proven to be capable of supporting our growth and delivering world-leading conditional access and middleware solutions on both DTH and cable services. We are very happy to be working with NDS on this venture.”

Links: Serbia Broadband; NDS