Netherlands based conditional access firm Irdeto, said at IBC this week that it has signed an agreement to protect content on India’s Videocon satellite TV operation which will come to market under the brand name D2H+.
Videocon makes TV equipment and has a huge market share in India, around a third, and its media arm, Bharat Business Channel, which is expected to launch in last quarter of 2008, will deliver D2H+ (direct to home plus) pay TV services with over 240 channels and in eight languages
It will use the Irdeto DVB SmartStart pay TV system, designed to ease new launches which has Irdeto conditional access, its customer care and billing system and its IDway-J set-top box middleware with EPG all bundled. The whole idea of the IDway-J middleware is so that it can integrate with multiple set-top box designs including DVRs.
Irdeto also announced two other deals at the show, a collaboration with sister Naspers company MultiChoice in South Africa for a HD DVR based on an Irdeto smart card, which it says allows Multichoice to get access to Hollywood films and live sporting events. The other deal is with Cisco’s Scientific Atlanta where it has extended an existing deal to enable Cisco to integrate Irdeto’s conditional access with its set-tops. Cisco will introduce a new DVR at cable operator Ziggo in the Netherlands as a part of this deal.