NDS announced that KT and the C-Cube consortium, having selected NDS' content protection solutions, have successfully completed one of the first IPTV trials in South Korea. The IPTV trial was concluded on December 31, 2006, and final technical evaluation will be submitted to the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Korean Broadcasting Commission for consideration.

The Ministry of Information and Communication and the Korean Broadcasting Commission are conducting rigorous technical verification and stability testing of the C-Cube consortium's IPTV service. The information will be utilized for the review of legislation that will authorize the launch of commercial IPTV services for the first time in Korea.

Ms. Sue Taylor, Vice President and General Manager of NDS Asia Pacific said, "NDS is proud to have supported KT and the C-Cube consortium to successfully complete the IPTV technical trial and systems testing. Because of the unique collection of member companies, the C-Cube consortium is well positioned to take advantage of the convergence of telecommunications, broadcasting, and mobile services."

Mr. Young-Hyun Kim, Vice President of KT said, "After extensive evaluation, KT decided to work with NDS because the company offers the most secure and robust IPTV solution. The IPTV service included a broad range of digital and interactive applications. The NDS systems supported the variety of services that our consortium wanted to offer, and NDS engineers in Seoul helped us achieve our goals to broadcast the best possible service in a very short period of time."

The C-Cube consortium is comprised of 54 companies, including KT, SK Telecom, Hanaro Telecom, LG Dacom, Onse Telecom, KBS, MBC, Samsung Electronics and other partners.

The IPTV service was successfully delivered to 270 households in Seoul and Yangyeong County, southeast of Seoul, protected by the NDS Synamedia solution. The service provided over 27 channels including high definition (HD) channels, five terrestrial channels, a terrestrial portal, a user-created content (UCC) portal, 1,200 on-demand videos, and 27 interactive TV services to fully comply with the requirements specified by the C-Cube consortium.

The IPTV service included a broad range of state-of-the-art applications, such as broadcast TV, video on demand, streaming and multimedia messaging, digital photos, and interactive TV services delivering stock market, weather and sports information.

NDS implemented an optimized Synamedia solution and developed the Korean-language electronic program guide (EPG) based on the unique system requirements.