LONDON UK – May 15, 2008 – Today the jury in the US District
Court for the Central District of California overwhelmingly exonerated NDS
Group companies in the lawsuit brought by Echostar and Nagrastar, a joint
venture company between Echostar and Kudelski Group. The level of damages
claimed by the plaintiffs, widely reported as amounting to over $1 billion,
has ultimately resulted in an award in actual damages of $45.69 or, in
statutory damages, of $1000, relating to a single incident involving a test
card used by NDS.
NDS is pleased that the four-week long trial in which NDS faced baseless
allegations, widely repeated and exaggerated to suggest the involvement of
our majority shareholder News Corporation, has ended in a resounding
affirmation of NDS and its business ethics and proper conduct.
NDS has been at the forefront of fighting pay-TV piracy for the last decade,
on the technological front, as well as on the legislative and law
enforcement fronts. We have invested hundreds of millions of dollars to
achieve our current record of zero piracy. We have stated consistently
throughout the course of this trial that the piracy of Echostar was the
result of inferior technology arising from inadequate investment in research
and development by Kudelski. This position has been validated with today’s
verdict.
About NDS
NDS Group plc (NASDAQ: NNDS), a majority owned subsidiary of News
Corporation, supplies open end-to-end digital technology and services to
digital pay-television platform operators and content providers. See
www.nds.com for more information about NDS.
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Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-looking Statements
This document may contain certain “forward-looking statements” within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
statements are based on management’s views and assumptions regarding future
events and business performance as of the time the statements are made.
Actual results may differ materially from these expectations due to changes
in global economic, business, competitive market, regulatory and other
factors. More detailed information about these and other factors that could
affect future results is contained in our filings with the US Securities and
Exchange Commission. Any “forward-looking statements” included in this
document are made only as of the date of this document and we do not have
any obligation, nor do we undertake, to publicly update any “forward-looking
statements” to reflect subsequent events or circumstances, except as
required by law.
Contact:
NDS
Cynthia Ritchie
Director, Corporate Communications
T: +44 (0)20 8476 8378
critchie@nds.com
Breakaway Communications for NDS
Kelly Fitzgerald, Managing Partner
T: + 1 212 616 6006
kfitz@breakawaycom.com