Updated: Revenues up at NDS but director resigns

The NDS Group, which supplies open end-to-end digital technology and services to digital pay-television platform operators and content providers, today announced a 14% revenue rise.

A majority owned subsidiary of News Corporation, the company also reported its operating income for the first quarter rose 25% to $45 million.

The fortunes are due to 66.6 million active digital TV smart cards and 44.7 million cumulative set-top boxes that have been activated so far.

Dr. Abe Peled, chairman and chief executive officer of NDS, said: "NDS has enjoyed a strong quarter, and has introduced a number of new products that expand our range of solutions and position us to participate in the new markets for secure content distribution that are emerging as a result of the rapid expansion of broadband band-width and penetration."

Following the announcement, NDS also revealed that Richard Yanowitch, non-executive director and vice chairman of the NDS Board, had resigned.

Peled said: "Although Richard’s tenure with us was relatively short, I would like to thank him for his contribution – particularly in the area of marketing where he brought fresh thinking to our strategy."

Yanowitch has taken a role at Accel Partners, a global venture capital firm, where he will be focus on digital media.