NDS, a News Corporation company and the leading provider of conditional access systems and interactive applications for digital pay TV, today announced it has launched the new Powered by NDS Certification Program to enable faster and seamless integration of NDS Open VideoGuard conditional access with Asian manufactured set-top boxes (STBs).

The programme, which started in Korea, also targets manufacturers in India, China and Taiwan, a company release says.

The first step of the two-stage certification programme reduces cost of integration and provides added convenience by providing a tool kit to enable the manufacturer to integrate the conditional access system prior to selecting a middleware. Manufacturers who successfully complete stage one will become Powered by NDS Certified Partners. In stage two, the manufacturer receives the VideoGuard Integrator Kit, which enables integration of NDS conditional access with all elements of the STB middleware and hardware. Upon completion of stage two, the vendor will achieve the Powered by NDS Premier Partner certification.

NDS Asia Pacific technical staff in Hong Kong, Beijing, Sydney and Bangalore provide 24/7 technical support for the Asian STB partners. The Certified Partners receive the added benefit of access to NDS markets, exclusive NDS developer tools, and dedicated NDS technical support and consulting services to facilitate expansion of their business.

On 27 March the Zee Network took its music channel Zee Music digital. However, the process was not all that simple. The network had to do some jugglery to ensure the transition. It switched off the Panamsat-4 beam for Zee Music retaining only the digitised beam from Asiasat-3S for Indian cable operators to relay on their cable TV networks.
Replacing Zee Music on PAS-4 is the Zee Network co-promoted Urdu Television Network. The channel was earlier beaming off AsiaSat 3S 105.5 degrees East, on transponder number IV (the down link frequency is 3660 megahertz). UTN will be mainly focused on west Asian audiences. The UTN space on Asiasat 3 has been replaced by an info card.

Zee Music, the 24 hour "Indian Hindi family Music Channel" went digital today while remaining a free to air channel.

The decision to turn digital was to give its viewers sharper pictures and better audio quality, fulfilling the Zee Network‘s endeavour to provide the best in quality entertainment, according to a company release.

The channel is beaming off Asiasat 3 on Transponder 13V. The downlinking frequency is 4.135 GHz, FEC is 2/3 and Symbol Rate is 15 Mbauds.

The southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh yesterday witnessed the launch a new Telugu channel christened Manna TV on state-of-the art Ku band-based satellite communication network.

The state‘s chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu did the honours on the occasion of Ugadi, Telugu New Year, according to the Press Trust of India.

As part of pilot transmission, Manna TV will commence telecasting long distance education programmes of Dr BR Ambedkar Open University and the University Grants Commission (UGC) respectively. It will also provide information about various state government departments and help farmers with prompt and timely update on weather and seasonal conditions.

In his inauguration address, Naidu thanked the Indian Science Research Organisation (ISRO) for agreeing to his government‘s request for providing the Ku band linkage. He said apart from literary and informative programmes, the channel would also focus on beaming entertainment programmes. The Ku band connected channel - which now caters to the needs of students belonging to 46 junior colleges, 12 degree colleges, 56 high schools and 94 government departments - will be expanded to more university colleges and schools from the next academic year.