Cable Technology Feature Article
May 28, 2009
NDS, ASDTVG GmbH Deliver Personal TV
By Vivek Naik, TMCnet Contributor
News Digital Systems (NDS) Group Limited and Axel Springer Digital TV Guide GmbH (ASDTVG GmbH) have announced at a cable trade show in Germany that they’re collaborating technologies for marketing Personal TV to broadcasting, pay TV and cable providers.
“We are pleased to work with Axel Springer Digital TV Guide to help bring a world-class viewing experience to more people across Germany,” said Yves Padrines, vice president of business development at NDS (News - Alert) and General Manager NDS GmbH.
Officials from the companies said that the two would present and share the significant potential business streams that accrue for service operators, advertisement dependent TV channels and advertisers because of major developments made in modern day TV technology and viewers’ experiences.
“We are delighted to cooperate with NDS in this exciting new area which greatly facilitates and improves the viewer experience in the rapidly expanding video entertainment universe,” said Ned Wiley, Managing Director of ASDTVG GmbH.
The officials added that advances made include addressable and interactive advertising that can be dynamically modified based on visible real time viewership metrics such as TV content viewed, channel surfing or sound muting during ads, and the level and type of usage of Digital Video Recorders (DVRs).
“The advanced TV technologies of today, particularly the DVR and EPG, have really revolutionised how people think about television,” said Padrines. “The freedom to choose from a wide range of content, and equally the choice as to how, when and where that content is viewed, fundamentally changes the entire paradigm of watching TV.”
NDS’s technological offerings, claim officials, include NDS DVR, addressable TV advertising technologies, advanced Electronic Program Guides (EPGs) and accurate measurement tools. ASDTVG GmbH brings to the table its own EPG’s with metadata, personalisation capabilities, and allegedly its significant knowledge of the German TV market.
“We look forward to working with NDS and mutual network operator partners to deliver that enhanced experience to viewers, as well as with the advertisers that want to reach them,” Wiley said.
NDS officials say that they surveyed more than a thousand DVR owners across continents during the summer of 2008 and published the results in a report titled, ‘The NDS DVR Report,’ and declared that the main finding was that DVR owners really loved their DVR’s.
In terms of ranking their household appliances as indispensable, respondents declared that DVR’s came in at number 3 after the washing machine and microwave. DVR owners with partners declared that it helps with a happier home life presumably because each one could watch their own favourite program at their own convenient time.
When asked to comment about an enriched and enjoyable TV viewing experience with respect to their DVR’s, 89 percent of Americans, 81 percent of British, 80 percent of Australians and 78 percent of Italians all reported that the DVR has improved how much they enjoy watching television, said the report.
German cable operator Kabel BW, as reported by TMCnet, has chosen NDS’ MediaHighway® set-top-box middleware, NDS XTV& trade; secure, integrated DVR technology and a VOD solution from NDS to extend the capabilities of Kabel BW’s service offering and technology infrastructure.
With MediaHighway, Kabel BW will be enabled to efficiently manage its entire STB population, and seamlessly introduce new, compelling entertainment services, including HD DVR and VOD, powered by NDS’ secure, integrated XTV DVR technology and an NDS VOD solution.
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Vivek Naik is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Vivek's articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Michael Dinan
