NDS, the leading provider of technology solutions for digital pay-TV, today announced that Bharti Airtel, India’s leading integrated telecom services provider, has launched an integrated digital video recorder (DVR) service with NDS XTV technology.
NDS’ market-leading XTV DVR technology will enhance the viewing experience by allowing Bharti Airtel digital TV subscribers to pause, record, play back, rewind and fast forward their favourite programmes for viewing when they choose. Viewers can record one TV show while playing another, or record both simultaneously with the capacity to record up to 100 hours of programming on a 160 GB hard disk. Viewers can easily build and manage their own personal playlist using the Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) developed by NDS.
The Bharti DVR features:
- For the first time in India, a downloadable electronic programme guide (EPG) for use on a mobile phone, to remotely record programmes on the DVR
- An Ethernet port providing a return path for two-way interactive applications in the future
- A choice of five different themes so subscribers can customise the look-and-feel of their EPG, including children’s and festival themes
According to a recent survey conducted by Media Partners Asia (MPA) on behalf of NDS, owning a DVR makes for a happier home life. DVR owners in India overwhelmingly said that a DVR makes TV viewing more enjoyable (88%), and enables them to find and watch more interesting programmes (64%). Moreover, more than half of respondents in a relationship (54%) said that using a DVR has stopped them from arguing with their partner over what to watch on TV.
Bharti Airtel, launched its Direct-to-Home (DTH) service in partnership with NDS in 2008. It uses NDS VideoGuard conditional access system (CAS), MediaHighway middleware and a multi-lingual EPG developed by NDS.
Announcing this important milestone in Bharti Airtel’s digital pay-TV offering, Mr. Ajai Puri, CEO, Airtel Telemedia Services, said: “The launch of an integrated DVR service is part of our ongoing commitment to offer consumers in India the highest quality pay-TV services. Based on our experience partnering with NDS, we are confident that NDS offers the industry’s most advanced technology and services to meet our needs.”
Sue Taylor, Senior Vice President and General Manager of NDS Asia Pacific said: “With an aggregated 137 million customers, Bharti is recognised for creating world-class products for the Indian market. The decision to launch an integrated DVR service based on XTV will radically change the way its pay-TV subscribers view content, enhancing Bharti Airtel’s reputation as a pioneering force in the telecom and DTH sector.”
