Premiere confirmed going over to NDS

Analoguesat

New Premiere encryption technology: Game over for criminal hackers

• Change to NDS Videoguard® for satellite customers
• New Nagravision system to operate in parallel
• Swap of new smartcards for all satellite subscribers, starting in Q2, 2008
• Switch to new encryption system made easy for subscribers
• No new receivers necessary

Munich, April 15, 2008. Premiere is following a dual strategy to combat criminal hackers. In Q2 2008, alongside a new version of Nagravision, Premiere will introduce the encryption technology NDS Videoguard® for the satellite transmission of its pay-TV programming. Premiere is taking this step to protect its exclusive film and sports programming by using the latest developments of the two leading providers of encryption technology worldwide. All new receivers will be equipped with NDS Videoguard.

NDS Videoguard® is the encryption system developed by the NDS Group, a News Corporation subsidiary. The pay-TV operator will switch its satellite customers and households that receive Premiere from smaller private cable network operators on network level 4 over to the new encryption system by 2012. The contract with the NDS Group has a ten-year term. A new improved Nagravision encryption will be used in parallel. The contract with the Swiss software developer Kudelski for Nagravision will expire in 2012 and can be extended.

Hans Seger, Chief Program and Technology Officer at Premiere AG: “A secure encryption system is the most important prerequisite of the pay-TV business model. Our decision to work with two providers initially will also strengthen our hand in the fight against the hacker mafia, also in the long term. Anyone who has purchased a hacked receiver will soon realize that they have thrown the money out of the window and that it’s better to buy a Premiere package the legal way.”

In the first phase, NDS Videoguard® will be introduced in Premiere satellite households in the second quarter of 2008.

Customers of the large cable TV operators in Germany, Kabel Deutschland, Kabel BW and Unitymedia, will not be affected by the current changes to the encryption system, nor will customers who receive Premiere soccer Bundesliga via arenaSat.

Two-phase change: Software update and smartcard switch made easy for subscribers / No new receivers necessary
The change of the encryption system will be implemented in the easiest possible way for Premiere subscribers. A receiver swap will not be necessary as all receivers “enabled for Premiere” will still function. Premiere will install the new encryption software NDS Videoguard® on all compatible receivers. After this update has been completed, the subscribers will receive a message on the receiver providing them with a telephone number that they can call to directly order a new smartcard. These customers will be given access to their Premiere programming until they receive the new smartcard.
To resolve the remaining security issues in the current Nagravision system, the smartcards of all other satellite customers also need to be changed. Premiere subscribers will automatically be sent a new smartcard, which they can simply swap against the old one.. Besides satellite customers, all subscribers to smaller private cable network operators (with smartcard identification codes P01 to P04) will be transferred to the new Nagravision system. In order to guarantee the smooth reception of Premiere during the swap, these subscribers will also be given access to their Premiere programming.

http://info.premiere.de/inhalt/eng/m...k_15042008.jsp

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