Taiwan - kbro selects Nagravision as exclusive CA vendor

Thursday, December 18th, 2008

  • kbro is launching new HD services and will use Nagravision as their exclusive CAS vendor
  • Nagravision’s conditional access solution to protect kbro’s content and future revenues
  • Over 1 million subscribers to be offered HD services for VOD and PVR
  • Nagravision also selected as CBIT’s (Cable Broadband Institute in Taiwan) de-facto CAS vendor

CHESEAUX, Switzerland — Nagravision, a Kudelski Group (SWX:KUD) company and the world’s leading independent provider of value-added content protection solutions, was chosen by kbro, Taiwan’s leading cable multiple system operator (MSO) as the exclusive conditional access (CAS) vendor for its new broadcasting system; the companies have signed a five-year exclusive contract. Leveraging Nagravision, kbro will launch new high definition (HD) services by the end of the year. Nagravision conditional access systems will enable kbro to seamlessly deploy and secure services, protect premium content and support ongoing enhancements for their digital TV services.

kbro currently has 12 cable TV (CATV) systems with over 1,100,000 subscribers, making it one of the top CATV MSOs in Taiwan. kbro plans to provide basic HD viewing at launch, and will later offer HD video-on-demand and personal video recorder services.

“The advanced digital television services we are launching will let our subscribers receive higher picture quality and more viewing choices than ever before. It’s not enough to offer basic services. To remain competitive, we want to provide our subscribers with the latest in service innovations as they become available,” said Mr. Jih Chao Hwa, CTO at kbro. “Partnering with Nagravision has allowed us to prepare for a rapid deployment of HD services. Their expertise in the Pay-TV market and scalable solution will help us differentiate our services today and tomorrow.”

“It’s an honor to be selected by kbro as their exclusive CAS vendor. kbro has aggressive plans to support their current and future subscribers with new services. We look forward to making their plan become a reality,” said Michael Tucker, Vice President Asia Pacific at Nagravision.

Also of note, Nagravision was chosen by CBIT (Cable Broadband Institute in Taiwan), the self-governing body of the MSOs of Taiwan, as the de facto CAS vendor for the country.