More Streaming for Murdoch: NDS Group buys Castup
Rupert Murdoch’s media empire spans the globe (for a map see here). With such breadth and scope (and in the wake of the $5b purchase of Wall Street Journal parent Dow Jones) it was easy to almost overlook another acquisition but sometimes the little things can be as telling than the big.
For $11.3m, NDS Group (Nasdaq: NNDS) , an UK based subsidiary of News Corp, is buying a small Israeli streaming video company called CastUP.
NDS sells technology for digital TV network providers and cable companies. CastUP provides Content Distribution Networking (CDN) systems. Essentially, that means networking and software for live video on demand streaming (supporting Microsoft Media, Real Media, Quicktime, and other players on the customer side).
In NDS’s hands, Castup’s technology will allow them new tools to process and distribute video assets online. The technology could also find a broader global market through NDS sibling properties like Fox, BskyB and others.
It’s no secret that one of Murdoch’s goals is to speed up the convergence of video media with other formats of content. Castup could be a piece in that puzzle.
The small company was founded in 1999 and its client-base is so far largely focused on the Israeli market but it’s customers do include global companies like IBM and Microsoft. They also include regional subsidiaries of MTV and Blockbuster.
In a statement, NDS said “CastUp’s proven rich media technology will also help NDS to develop new enhanced services and applications for broadband enabled set-top boxes (hybrid STBs).”
