NDS Marries Digital TV and OTT with Innovative Applications Development Portal

LONDON — NDS Group, the leading provider of technology solutions for digital pay-TV, today announced the launch of the NDS Service Delivery Platform, a fully scalable platform that enables TV operators to extend their offering to companion devices through third-party applications.

The NDS Service Delivery Platform (SDP) provides an open API that acts as an interface between apps on devices, a service provider’s TV platform and social networks or other internet content. Providing a standard web services interface, the SDP enables the development of a limitless number of applications to complement or control the TV viewing experience.

“Simultaneous TV and internet device usage is a growing phenomenon and presents opportunity for pay-TV operators, studios and app developers to create companion content and services. The potential lies in enhancement of the audience experience, the chance to reach the customer outside of the television viewing period, and in providing new avenues for advertiser engagement.” commented Adrian Drury, Principle Analyst, Ovum Media and Broadcast. “The NDS Service Delivery Platform takes an interesting approach to solving both issues. Ovum looks forward to seeing audience response to the first applications that exploit the web services exposed by SDP.”

Enabling a multi-device ecosystem, the SDP places the TV operator at the core of the multi-screen entertainment experience, utilising the untapped creative potential of the app developer community and facilitated by a fully featured developer portal.

“The NDS SDP enables operators to harness the creativity of the thriving app developer community. The key to the platform is the two-way communications model, enabling not only content on devices, but that crucial link between the device and the operator platform – including the set-top box, so that it becomes a companion to the viewing experience.” said Nigel Smith, VP and Chief Marketing Officer, NDS. “The SDP fosters a symbiotic relationship that allows operators to drive service adoption through the apps, whilst enabling developers to generate revenue and providing subscribers with an enriched experience.”

To provide a multi-faceted companion device experience, the SDP facilitates the contextual delivery of additional content, information and social networking features from online sources. The platform uses intelligent mechanisms to ensure that content and metadata are retrieved from the most appropriate source, whether the operator platform or web-services such as movie databases or catch-up TV sites. Devices and individual subscriptions are recognised by the SDP, allowing the delivery of appropriately formatted content, to device specification and in keeping with the user’s pay-TV subscription.

The NDS SDP is compatible with existing TV platforms and STBs. Utilising device SDKs and app stores, it negates the need for per-device and per-service integration, enabling the operator to present their brand, new services and content on a rapidly expanding number of connected devices.