The NDS Group, a News Corporation company and leading provider of conditional access systems and interactive applications for digital TV, announced recently it had been selected as part of the winning consortium to launch Korea‘s first digital satellite broadcasting operation. The deal, worth approximately $30m to the consortium, is one of the largest ever of its kind in Asia and will provide the region‘s first fully interactive satellite TV platform, a company release states.

As part of the consortium led by Ssang Yong Information and Communications (SICC), NDS will supply their Open VideoGuard (conditional access system), StreamServer (for the management control of the digital headend) and provide support consultancy for Ssang Yong in their role as prime systems integrator. In addition to its work with Ssang Yong, NDS will work with Korean manufacturers to integrate interactive technology into set-top boxes and with content developers to make interactive services available to Korea Digital Satellite Broadcasting (KDB).

"This agreement is yet another endorsement of NDS‘s technology and systems integration skills," said Dr Abe Peled, president and CEO, NDS Group. "NDS‘s conditional access systems are used by the world‘s largest broadcasting operations and we are one of the industry‘s few providers with a full end-to-end solution. We are confident that our systems and support will meet KDB‘s needs during the critical development period, at launch and as it grows its subscriber base over the coming years."

Highlights:
* Korea Digital Satellite Broadcasting (KDB) to launch digital satellite broadcasting by end of 2001
* NDS to act as consultant to Ssang Yong Information and Communications on systems integration
* NDS Open VideoGuard(tm) digital conditional access and StreamServer( selected for use on KDB.

The Mumbai High Court, in an interim order passed this afternoon, directed InCablenet to pay ESPN Software India for 175,000 subscriber homes.

InCablenet, in its version of the turn of events, said the court had ordered ESPN and Star Sports to restore the signals to the multisystems operator by 5:00 PM on Tuesday, pending the final hearing of the application filed by Incablenet.

As per the court‘s ruling, InCablenet was directed to deposit in court a sum of Rs 400,000 per month for an additional 25,000 subscriber homes over and above RS 2.4 million which InCablenet was paying under the contract for 150,000 subscriber homes, an ESPN release said.

The court further directed InCablenet to pay arrears for the months of May and June 2001, RS 4.8 million, within three days and a sum of RS 800,000 for additional 25,000 connections for the months of May and June 2001 to be deposited in court in seven days. The High Court has permitted ESPN to withdraw the aforesaid sum of RS 800,000 by furnishing an undertaking.

Incablenet has been directed to continue to pay for 175000 subscriber homes till further orders in the aforementioned manner. "InCablenet claims to service over 1.55 million homes in Mumbai to its advertisers and they were paying us for only 1.5 lakh homes which is less than 10 per cent of the actual homes claimed to be serviced by the MSO. We are happy with the Mumbai High Court order," Manu Sawhney, managing director, ESPN Software, said.

InCablenet on its part said it was moving the court against Star‘s decision on Monday to switch off its feed to InCablenet over a dispute similar to the one it has had with ESPN-Star Sports. Rajiv Vyas, president, INCablenet said the court‘s attention would be drawn to the statement Star‘s executive V-P, Arun Mohan, had made in an interview broadcast by CNBC on Monday. Mohan had reportedly said that Star was demanding an increase in the number of subscribers by more than 150 per cent (to 375,000 from the present 150,000). Mohan had openly stated in the same interview that it was their intention to form a cartel of pay channels to extract higher charges from television viewers, Vyas said. "It is high time that the government took note of such monopolistic actions of the pay channels coercing customers to pay more" Vyas said.