NDS Ready to Roll Out DirecTV Features

[Gregg Lengling]

NDS Group President and CEO Abe Peled said the company's business with DirecTV is set to take another step forward in 2005, with the satellite TV giant rolling out NDS' interactive middleware and DVR technology later this year.

In January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, NDS announced that DirecTV would be using the company's MediaHighway middleware to create advanced TV applications as well as NDS' XTV technology for a new generation of DVRs that DirecTV will launch later this year. NDS is News Corp.'s TV technology company, and News Corp. also controls DirecTV.

Peled said Tuesday that the debut of NDS' technology on the DirecTV platform will occur during the second half of the company's fiscal year, which will end this summer.

Another big milestone for the TV technology company: During the quarter NDS activated its 50 millionth digital pay-TV smart card, and the company now has 51.8 million active digital TV smart cards in service around the planet. NDS supplies smart cards to key cable and satellite TV services across the world, including DirecTV.

NDS reported that for the fiscal quarter that ended Dec. 31 revenues improved to $141.6 million and net income climbed to $17.8 million.