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–Also Provides End-to-End Systems to Romania’s Romtelecom, Norway’s Get

News Corp.-owned conditional access and interactive TV technology provider, NDS, has acquired Danish game design and publication company, ITE. ITE, which is perhaps best known for an animated game character called "Hugo," has published games on a range of gaming platforms, including the Sony PlayStation 2 and the Nintendo Gameboy, and also provides technologies to broadcasters that enable viewers to interact directly with TV programs through various devices. According to NDS, it has an extensive library of proven game titles for consoles, mobiles and PC’s, and a range of new interactive TV technology. "NDS constantly seeks to enrich its offering to customers and ITE is an established leader in the games development and publication arena that fully complements our existing, high-quality interactive TV games proposition," Jesper Knutsson, managing director of NDS Denmark, said in a prepared statement. "The acquisition further enhances the ability of NDS to offer its existing portfolio of leading content owners and multinational broadcasters world-leading interactive games solutions across a wider range of platforms, as well as opening up new opportunities in other, high-growth interactive gaming markets."

In other NDS news:

• The company says that Scandinavian cable TV and broadband company, Get (formerly known as UPC Norway), has chosen it to provide an end-to-end system to power its new digital cable service. The system includes NDS’s VideoGuard conditional access technology, its MediaHighway middleware, its EPG solution, and its XTV DVR platform. Get plans to launch its digital cable service before the winter holiday season: the roll-out will see it deploying new set-top boxes and smartcards to its existing subscribers. According to NDS, Get is also planning upgrades to its service "to support IPTV and home networking solutions."
• The company says that Romanian telco, Romtelecom, has tapped it to deploy a full, end-to-end system on its new DTH satellite TV platform. The system includes NDS’s VideoGuard technology, and its MediaHighway middleware and EPG. "We are very excited to be chosen by Romtelecom to secure and enable their new DTH platform," David Nabozny, NDS’s VP and general manager for Europe, said in a prepared statement. "We look forward to working together in order to create value for both Romtelecom and its subscribers in the company’s new broadcasting venture. This is an important contract for NDS as Romtelecom is the leading telco in Romania and represents our second customer in the country, which has a large population, high TV viewing rates and good growth potential. It also underlines the continued expansion of NDS’s footprint in Eastern Europe."

Originally Published: October 17, 2006 Part 1 in [itvt] Issue 7.00

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