SkyLife launched Korea's only digital satellite TV service in March 2002. Since then it has grown quickly to gain market share of 6.1% of television households. SkyLife research shows that this growth rate far surpasses expansion of satellite broadcasting in America, which reached only 3.4% market share after two years, and only 1.4% market share in Japan in the same timeframe.

Mr. Hwang Kyu Hwan, President of SkyLife, commented at the ceremony, "SkyLife pioneered a new market under challenging circumstances. The service has grown to one million subscribers in just one year and eight months. This is proof that Korean viewers are rapidly accepting digital satellite broadcasting and welcoming the harmony of broadcast and communication."

According to Ms. Sue Taylor, Vice President and General Manager of NDS Asia Pacific, SkyLife has achieved phenomenal success in a relatively short timeframe and is one of the fastest growing pay-TV deployments using NDS technology worldwide.

"We congratulate SkyLife on reaching one million subscribers and proving that its digital vision is now a reality. SkyLife is leading the way in digital satellite broadcasting in Asia and delivering unparalleled growth rates in the industry. The success of SkyLife has proven the scalability and reliability of NDS solutions," said Ms. Taylor.

With piracy a continuing problem across the Asia Pacific region, the security of NDS VideoGuard conditional access has allowed SkyLife to build their business without concerns about piracy. VideoGuard conditional access will continue to play a key role in securing the pay-TV programming of SkyLife and protecting revenue from new services such as interactive TV.

NDS supported SkyLife to leverage the investment in leading digital broadcasting technology to offer new services to viewers. In May 2003, SkyLife became one of the world's first pay-TV operators to launch MHP broadcast services with conditional access. The SkyTouch DVB-MHP interactive TV service is based on VideoGuard conditional access and runs on the SkyLife Smart Box 2.0 set-top box. SkyTouch interactive TV service delivers 14 categories of interactive services, such as games, quizzes, data services, weather forecasts and real estate prices.

SkyLife has also capitalized on technology to commence a 24-hour SkyHD high definition channel and mobile services for pay TV reception in private vehicles. NDS VideoGuard is uniquely able to support revenue generation through these varied transmission methods.

"NDS technologies and the expertise of the NDS Seoul office have been dedicated to supporting SkyLife to build their business. With 16.4 million TV households in South Korea, there remains significant potential for further growth of the SkyLife service," Ms. Taylor said.

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