Seven Star selects Irdeto Digital TV conditional access system

Hyderabad: In a major thrust towards migration to digital television in Mumbai Seven Star, which has been offering Cable TV services in Mumbai since 1994, has selected the Irdeto Digital TV's conditional access system to provide content protection for not only its migration to digital TV but also its existing pay TV operation. Irdeto is a subsidiary of the multinational media group, Naspers (NASDAQ: NPSN and JSE: NPN).

This analogue-to-digital migration project will be rolled out to Seven Star's network of subscribers in Mumbai in a phased manner.

With some broadcasters planning to launch DTH services soon, Seven Star has decided to go digital in order to provide a greater quality signal and choice of viewing options to subscribers.

Established in 1994 to offer cable services, Star Seven recently built an advanced HFC bi-directional cable TV network and an IP-based metro transmission network, enabling the cable TV network to transfer not only single analogue programmes but also multimedia information including data, voice and video.

Seven Star will begin the roll-out of its digital service in two out of twelve metropolitan areas, with the short-term goal of reaching (dependent upon market conditions) up to 50,000 households in the first year of operation, and the long-term goal of eventually reaching its whole network.

The scalability of Irdeto's conditional access system was thus crucial in Seven Star's selection of it. "For such a large-scale and important project as this one, Irdeto was the obvious choice," said Shamim Shaikh, chief executive officer of Seven Star."

Graham Kill, SEO, Irdeto, explains, "Digital migration is a worldwide phenomenon in which Irdeto is already an active participant. Our experience in China and the Philippines in particular, where infrastructure and pricing issues are similar to those in India, makes us uniquely qualified to partner with Indian broadcasters and work together to make digitalization a successful reality."

Rahul Nehra, Irdeto's India country manager, added, "This association with Seven Star will offer world-class digital TV to the citizens of Mumbai with the choice of NVOD, PPV and IPPV in the times to come and is further evidence of our commitment to this region and to India's move toward digitalization."

Irdeto is a content security technology leader, specialising in designing, developing, and marketing end-to-end solutions to manage and protect content from unauthorised access in the television broadcast, mobile and broadband environments.