UK and Israel based conditional access supplier NDS, strongly affiliated with, and part owned by, News Corporation, has launched a version of its VideoGuard system for HD radio, and has demonstrated it with iBiquity Digital at NAB this week.
NDS will now market the system with iBiquity to 13,000 or so US radio stations as they upgrade to digital.
Ibiquity is the company that won FCC approval to provide a US only digital radio scheme where a digital signal is squeezed into the same spectrum as existing analog radio, rather than adopting the European Digital Audio Broadcasting technology which places all digital radio into 1.5 MHz multiplexes.
It is hoped that the partnership will accelerate plans to move more US radio stations into HD, with around 3,000 having already announced plans to make the relatively inexpensive change to its broadcast signal.
HD radio has foundered in the US due to slow adoption by the Consumer Electronics community in bringing to market players of sufficiently high quality to play the new digital signals.
NDS says that it is the first provider of conditional access for HD Radio broadcasting and NDS has been selected by iBiquity to put into its radio system as standard. Which sounds like code for saying that where a radio station doesn’t specify another protection system they’ll be ushered towards NDS. The system will send music encrypted out into the airways and presumably a chip inside a digital radio will have the decryption keys.
NDS makes the point that with RadioGuard broadcasters will be able to offer a broader selection of content and HD can take advantage of some new approaches like pay-per-listen options for live concerts and events, improved radio reading services for the blind, private channels for emergency operators, and opt-in events sponsored by advertisers.