NDS, a provider of technology solutions for digital pay-TV, has announced that COMSTAR-United TeleSystems (COMSTAR-UTS OJSC, LSE: CMST), a major operator of integrated telecommunications services in Russia and the CIS under the STREAM brand, is the first customer to deploy NDS Master UI™, a highly intuitive user interface that transforms the way content and features are presented on screen and enhances the way users interact with them.

Comstar-UTS has also selected NDS IPTV content protection as it aims to become leader in the Russian pay-TV market. Comstar-UTS is a subsidiary of Sistema, Russia’s largest public diversified corporation. Comstar-UTS has more than 147,000 double-play subscribers in Moscow for its STREAM branded pay-TV channels. From January 2009, these IPTV subscribers are the first to use the new NDS MUI interface before a nationwide rollout. In July 2008, Sistema Mass Media (SMM), another sister operator, selected the NDS Unified Headend™ to manage and protect TV content delivery to subscribers across IP and DVB-H mobile TV networks. SMM’s deployment also included choosing VideoGuard Mobile™, NDS’ secure mobile TV solution, part of the NDS Unified Headend, to protect its mobile TV service.