NDS Group, a News Corporation company, has announced that China Network Systems (CNS), Taiwan's leading cable TV service provider, has selected NDS to provide systems integration consulting and the end-to-end digital broadcasting solutions to power their digital cable TV network upgrade. NDS claims to be the leading provider of conditional access systems and interactive applications for digital TV. CNS is a joint venture between the Star Group which claims to be Asia's leading multi-platform content and service provider, and Koos Group which claims to be Taiwan's leading business conglomerate.

CNS will commence the digital upgrade of cable networks in the second quarter of 2002, with services delivered to more than one million viewers within three years.

An official release states that Taiwan's cable market has the highest penetration of any pay-TV market in the Asia Pacific region. There are nearly five million cable TV subscribers in Taiwan, representing 80 per cent of TV households. CNS claims to be the leading cable TV service provider in Taiwan, with access to more than one million analog cable TV viewers currently. 

With a reach of more than one million viewers, the CNS planned digital rollout will be the first wide-scale deployment of digital interactive TV technology in the Asia Pacific.