NDS Group plc is a DRM and conditional access firm. It is listed on the NASDAQ (symbol blank">NNDS), but its major shareholder is _News Corporation. The company is headquartered in West Drayton (near Heathrow), United Kingdom. The CEO of NDS is Abe Peled.
Its major product is the VideoGuard conditional access system, which is used on most of News Corporation's digital satellite TV systems. It is also used on many non-News Corp systems. In addition, VideoGuard is used in broadband IPTV, mobile solutions and cable. New solutions to secure content on PCs, PMPs and other devices have recently been displayed at CES and IBC.
As of 31 March 2007, there are more than 70 million active VideoGuard smart cards. NDS also makes the XTV PVR/DVR, which has been cumulatively deployed in more than 6.5 million set-top boxes. XTV is more commonly identifiable under the names Sky+ (in BSkyB) and DirecTV+ (in DirecTV). NDS has deployed or activated more than 50 million set-top boxes with its MediaHighway middleware.
NDS also supplies interactive TV applications, platforms, and development tools. NDS has over 3000 employees, with offices in the UK, Israel, United States, France, India, Denmark, South Korea, China, Hong Kong and Australia.
Leading customers include DirecTV (in the USA), BSkyB, Sky Italia, SKY Latin America, SKY Network Television (in New Zealand), Viasat (in Sweden & Denmark), Foxtel (in Australia), China Central Television (CCTV), Yes and Hot (in Israel), SkyLife, CanalSat (in France), Astro (in Malaysia), Cablevision (in Canada) and Tata Sky (in India).
