The Kudelski Group says plans to increase the amount of investment put into next generation middleware and advertising solutions are ahead of schedule.
In a statement accompanying solid first half 2010 results the owner of the OpenTV brand said although the cost base was higher than originally envisaged the result was an upgraded product portfolio that would be available sooner than originally anticipated.
Revenues grew by 6% in constant currency compared to the first half of 2009, though decreased margins resulted in an operating loss of CHF 6 million (€4.56m).
Virgin Media, ONO and Liberty Global have all confirmed Nagravision conditional access in their next generation receivers, but looked elsewhere for middleware solutions. In particular, UPC announced that NDS MediaHighway would feature in its multimedia home gateway rather than OpenTV, as has been the case in its previous advanced set-tops. However, Israel’s HOT extended an agreement to offer subscribers an advanced HD experience based on OpenTV Core nX.
The Digital TV segment remains core to the Kudelski business, Europe in particular continuing to be a strong driver, revenues increasing by 20.8% (29.9% in constant currency) to CHF 202.9 million. Italy’s Mediaset Premium in particular expanded sales of the SmarDTV Common Interface.
Expansion in the Latin American market, where more than 100,000 cards were delivered to 10 different operators, compensated for lower revenues from DISH/Echostar after last years card swaps.
