NDS Group, which supplies open end-to-end digital technology and services to digital pay-television platform operators and content providers, reported an improvement in profitability resulting from growth in middleware and PVR technologies.
Quarterly revenue was $144.5 million, up 2% year-over-year. Operating income was $35.7 million, up 41% year-over-year, and operating margin was 24.7%.
Some metrics for Q3 compared to a year earlier:
- Smart card deliveries numbered 5.5 million down from 8.9 million
- Authorized cards additions were 1.8 million, down from 3.8 million
- NDS now has delivered 58.5 million authorized cards
- Middleware deployments for set-top boxes were 6.3 million, up from 0.4 million a year earlier
- Cumulative set-top boxes now number 26.7 million
- PVR deployments for set-top boxes were 0.3 million and the number of cumulative set-top boxes is now 1.7 million.
- New Zealand's SKY Television is upgrading its digital broadcasting system using the latest versions of NDS's end-to-end solutions and has selected NDS PVR solution.
- SkyLife (Korea Digital Satellite Broadcasting), with 1.8 million subscribers, has selected NDS's XTV technology for an integrated personal video recorder service anticipated to launch in mid-2006.
- NDS and Philips have announced the production launch of new digital MHP terrestrial receivers.
- Nickelodeon and NDS are continuing their 6 year relationship by signing a new contract for the ongoing development and delivery of interactive games.
- Tandberg, Pace Micro Technology and MGt have joined forces with NDS to launch an end-to-end digital pay-TV solution, NDS VideoGuard Express, which is specifically designed for smaller and mid size cable and pay-TV operators.
- DTH Television Grup, a leading digital satellite pay-TV broadcaster in Romania, currently broadcasting to over 690,000 digital subscribers, has signed a contract with NDS to deploy VideoGuard conditional access on DTH Television Grup's digital pay-TV platform.
