The European Commission has given the green light to Cisco’s purchase of NDS in a deal put at $5 billion (€4.14 billion). The Commission said its investigation had confirmed the merged entity would continue to face competition from a number of strong competitors. Customers that include some of the world’s largest pay-TV operators would continue to have alternative suppliers across all markets.
NDS’s global operations include sites in the United Kingdom, Israel, France, India and China. Approximately 5,000 employees will join the Cisco Service Provider Video Technology Group (SPVTG), under general manager Jesper Andersen. Its principal products are set-top box security and software for personal video recorders.
NDS has more than 75 pay-TV customers worldwide, both inside and outside the News Corp group of companies. They include Comcast, DirecTV, Foxtel, Kabel Deutschland, Get, Kabel BW, Sky Italia, Sky Deutschland and BSkyB.
The company is currently owned by the private equity firm Permira and News Corp.
The purchase is the largest made by Cisco since the acquisition of the Scientific-Atlanta set-top business in 2006.