NDS MediaHighway Enables Advanced Services for Sky Italia

NDS’ MediaHighway set-top box software to enable a superior viewing experience for Sky Italia subscribers; New EPG to provide enhanced look and feel in HD

LONDON — NDS Group today announced that Sky Italia (NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV), Italy’s leading pay-TV provider, has selected NDS’ MediaHighway® set-top-box software to enable an advanced user experience for its subscribers. The new deployment includes the introduction of a new EPG and enhanced interactive features.

MediaHighway will be deployed on all new Sky Italia HD digital video recorders (DVRs) and is in the process of being downloaded to more than 1.6 million existing devices.

Paola Formenti, Director of Technology at Sky Italia commented: “Subscriber experience is key to any development that we make to our platform, and for that reason we chose to implement a software solution that would stand the test of time and provide a greatly enhanced experience both now and in the future.” She added “NDS’ MediaHighway has enabled us with a flexible solution that truly meets our needs.”

David Nabozny, NDS Senior Vice President, Major Accounts said: “Sky Italia have taken important steps to ensure a quality experience for their subscribers. With a solid underpinning in MediaHighway set-top box software, and a new and improved user interface, the Sky Italia subscriber experience is leading the Italian market.” He added “We look forward to supporting Sky Italia in future developments.”

Enabled by MediaHighway, the industry’s leading set-top box software, Sky Italia subscribers will benefit from flexible viewing with an advanced user interface, providing intuitive navigation of content and services, including NDS XTV™ DVR technology that enables time shifted viewing functionalities (such as pause, rewind, fast-forward and playback). Sky Italia currently employ a number of NDS technologies including VideoGuard® conditional access (CA) and interactive technologies.