NDS Group plc announced that Telekom Austria, Austria's largest telecommunications company, has selected Synamedia, the NDS secure broadband IPTV and VOD solution and architecture.

The NDS Synamedia solution, integrated with VideoGuard content protection and digital rights management, offers Telekom Austria a secure platform for the delivery of multi-channel pay-TV and VOD services to customers using a broadband connection.

Using an IP set-top-box (IP-STB), Telekom Austria, under the aonDigital TV brand, will market this entertainment service as a competitive alternative to satellite and cable television offerings. The service was launched in 2005 according to plan within the scope of a friendly customer trial in Vienna and will be made available to a larger customer base in Vienna at the beginning of 2006.

This new contract further enhances the NDS IPTV solution following deployments worldwide, including BBTV in Japan, Sistema in Russia, CYTA in Cyprus, Viasat in Sweden, Auna in Spain and SuperSun in Hong Kong.

Nigel Smith, Vice President Broadband Internet, NDS, said: "The strength of NDS's Synamedia solution means that we can provide the best protection to the broadband IP industry and are delighted to support Telekom Austria's IPTV and VOD deployment. The addition of Telekom Austria to NDS's IPTV customers further confirms NDS as the prime supplier of DRM to Tier 1 telecom operators worldwide. Our proven VideoGuard protection fulfils premium content owners' demand for strong security for new broadband IP networks."

Stefan Tweraser, Vice President Marketing, Telekom Austria, said: "Telekom Austria's choice for NDS solutions was welcomed by all our content partners. We are very proud of our aonDigital TV service. It offers a good portfolio mix of broadcasting channels, video on demand comprising both Hollywood and Austrian specific content, very interesting features like photo slide shows on the TV set and much more."