Deliver Your News to the World

Partner Communications Selects NDS PC Show™ to Power New VOD Content Portal


WEBWIRE

Highlights:

* Leading Israel mobile telecoms provider Partner Communications Company Ltd. (“Partner Communications”) has chosen NDS PC Show™ to securely deliver VOD over the Internet for its new online web VOD portal
* New portal forms part of Partner Communications’ new content-based services strategy to raise ARPU and attract new users
* Content distribution is enabled via CastUP’s Content Distribution Network

LONDON, UK – NDS, the leading provider of technology solutions for digital pay-TV, today announced that leading Israeli mobile operator Partner Communications, part of Hutchison Telecom International, has chosen NDS PC Show™ to deliver Video On Demand (VOD) securely over the Internet for its newly launched content portal. By implementing NDS PC Show, together with NDS Unified Headend™, Partner Communications is able to provide Israeli consumers who register on the website with a wealth of video content that can be viewed on their PCs. The distribution of the content over the Internet is being facilitated by the robust and reliable Content Distribution Network provided by CastUP, an NDS Group company.

Partner Communications has almost three million mobile customers in Israel. Its VOD portal went live on December 16, 2008 and offers consumers an array of music, video, games and entertainment. The portal will play a key role in Partner Communications’ bid to become an end-to-end content and communications provider.

NDS PC Show provides the ideal solution for enabling the delivery of VOD services and linear channels to PCs over the open Internet. Incorporating the highly robust content protection of NDS’ VideoGuard PC™, it allows subscribers to watch content via an operator’s branded web portal.

NDS PC Show can easily integrate with an operator’s existing network and back-office systems (such as billing, subscriber and content management systems) or be provided as an end-to-end solution with pre-integrated partner components. All of this is made possible by the NDS Unified Headend, which provides a business management platform interface that is pre-integrated with NDS PC solutions and enables operators to manage all their services using one central system. This results in reduced operational costs and delivers a seamless experience to subscribers, regardless of the device they are watching.

Erez Paz, VP Marketing at Partner Communications, said: “The launch of our online portal is a major element in our strategy to deliver advanced content services to our customers. NDS Unified Headend and NDS PC Show will play a key role because they allow us to deliver great video content to PC users while protecting content owners’ rights, as well as minimising operational costs.” He added: “I’m confident that NDS technology will help us to build an innovative web-based video business that will excite our current customers and attract new ones, giving them the content and the flexibility they want.”

David Nabozny, NDS Chief Sales Officer, commented: “The development of innovative technologies that enable people to enjoy TV content at any time and on any device is at the core of our strategy. It makes good commercial sense for mobile operators to broaden their offerings and provide high-value video and other entertainment content over the Internet, and NDS is proud to help Partner Communications to provide such a rich media experience to its customers.”

NDS PC Show is based on market-leading NDS VideoGuard®, the pay-TV industry’s most advanced suite of conditional access (CA) and digital rights management (DRM) solutions. Over 60 pay-TV operators around the globe trust NDS technology to protect their valuable content in an aggregated 95.4 million active devices.

In addition to securing content delivery to PCs, VideoGuard also protects and enables content consumed on SD and HD STBs, DVRs, mobile phones, portable media players (PMPs), and removable media. VideoGuard PC provides the security and enabling technology to turn the PC into a true entertainment platform and is available in two versions: NDS PC Show for web-based content delivery over the open Internet, and NDS PC Plex™, which turns the PC into a fully fledged HD DVR, complete with live SD and HD content, full EPG and DVR capabilities.

About Partner Communications
Partner Communications is a leading Israeli mobile communications operator providing GSM / GPRS / UMTS / HSDPA services and wire free applications. Partner Communications provides quality service and a range of features to 2.882 million subscribers in Israel (as of September 30, 2008). Partner’s ADSs are quoted on the NASDAQ Global Select Market™ and its shares are traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (NASDAQ and TASE: PTNR).

Partner is a subsidiary of Hutchison Telecommunications International Limited (“Hutchison Telecom”), a leading global provider of telecommunications services. Hutchison Telecom currently offers mobile and fixed line telecommunications services in Hong Kong, and operates mobile telecommunications services in Israel, Macau, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Indonesia. It was the first provider of 3G mobile services in Hong Kong and Israel and operates brands including “Hutch”, “3”

Hutchison Telecom, a subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa Limited, is a listed company with American Depositary Shares quoted on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “HTX” and shares listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong under the stock code “2332”.

About NDS

NDS Group plc (NASDAQ: NNDS), a majority owned subsidiary of News Corporation, supplies open end-to-end digital technology and services to digital pay-television platform operators and content providers. See www.nds.com for more information about NDS.

About CastUP

CastUP, an NDS Group company, is a leading developer of streaming media systems and tools including the CastUP Nile, a large scale media delivery system, and the CastUP Network, a worldwide media distribution network, serving hundreds of millions of views every month. CastUP’s global infrastructure and carrier-grade dedicated appliance products ensure the delivery of video to desktops around the world, in a simple and reliable way. National television networks, government agencies, banks, Internet broadcasters, cable and satellite service providers, as well as global and regional corporations all figure in CastUP’s customer base. Included are MSN, BlockBuster, ICQ, MTV, 888, Steven Spielberg Archives, Amdocs, HP and many more. For more information visit www.castup.net.

Read about the latest developments at NDS and in the pay-TV industry in World Vision

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-looking Statements
This document may contain certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management’s views and assumptions regarding future events and business performance as of the time the statements are made. Actual results may differ materially from these expectations due to changes in global economic, business, competitive market, regulatory and other factors. More detailed information about these and other factors that could affect future results is contained in our filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Any “forward-looking statements” included in this document are made only as of the date of this document and we do not have any obligation, nor do we undertake, to publicly update any “forward-looking statements” to reflect subsequent events or circumstances, except as required by law.



WebWireID84332





This news content was configured by WebWire editorial staff. Linking is permitted.

News Release Distribution and Press Release Distribution Services Provided by WebWire.