News Broadcasting
NDS files countersuit against DirecTV, subsidiaries
LOS ANGELES (California): NDS has countersued DirecTV Enterprises and two of its subsidiaries, along with a chip manufacturer and its North American sales affiliate.
The countersuit alleges that DirecTV and the chip manufacturer misappropriated NDS’ trade secrets and proprietary information, conspired to infringe NDS’ patents, colluded to create unfair competition and breached agreements and licenses restricting the use of NDS’ intellectual property.
NDS claims that DirecTV has been secretly working with the chip manufacturer to develop a knock-off of NDS’ latest generation smart card for DirecTV that infringes NDS’ patents and misappropriates its technology for the last two years.
DirecTV, the biggest satellite television firm in the US had initiated legal action against NDS, the Middlesex supplier of smart cards that prevent pirating, in September. The lawsuit comes six months after Canal Plus Technologies (CPT) of France began a $3 billion legal action against NDS alleging it helped fund hackers who published secrets on the Internet about its pay-TV technology, say reports. The DirecTV suit, filed under seal in a US district court in Los Angeles, made a series of allegations against NDS including breach of contract, fraud, breach of warranty and misappropriation of trade secrets.
DirecTV on its part sought damages, the delivery of software which it claims is required by contract and an injunction to prevent any further breaches.
NDS, meanwhile, in its countersuit filed yesterday, has claimed that DirecTV induced the chip manufacturer to breach its agreements with NDS and that DirecTV has been leaking confidential information related to NDS’ smart card to pirate websites to give DirecTV an excuse to break its agreements and unveil its competing knockoff smart card. NDS has also sued DirecTV for negligence and breach of contract, claiming that DirecTV’s faulty distribution policies and gross mismanagement of satellite television piracy jeopardize NDS’ technology and resulted in widespread piracy of DirecTV’s service.
NDS has sought compensatory and punitive damages and an injunction prohibiting DirecTV and the chip manufacturer from producing the new smart card, infringing NDS’ patents and misappropriating its technology. It has also sought an injunction against DirecTV preventing it from soliciting NDS’ employees and from assuming control of its conditional access technology.
News Broadcasting
Book Cricket gets a digital century on News18 amid T20 fever
Nostalgic classroom game revamped in English, Hindi plus Telugu on web and app.
MUMBAI: When the T20 World Cup fever hits fever pitch, News18 decides to flip the script straight back to the classroom. The digital news platform has revived the timeless schoolyard favourite Book Cricket as an interactive online game, perfectly timed to ride the cricket wave gripping fans across the globe. The reimagined Book Cricket ditches textbooks for smartphones, blending old-school nostalgia with modern gameplay. Once a sneaky recess pastime played by flicking book pages to score runs, the digital version now offers seamless fun for anyone craving a quick cricket fix between overs.
Available in English, Hindi and Telugu (with more languages planned across News18’s network), the game sits within the platform’s fast-growing gaming portfolio of over 20 titles, all built in-house. It joins event-driven hits like ‘Kursi Catcher’ and ‘Result Rewind’ during the 2025 Bihar Assembly Elections, plus festive specials such as ‘Durga’s Astras’ for Durga Puja and ‘Mouse Modak’ for Ganesh Chaturthi.
News18 Digital CEO Mitul Sangani said, “Gaming is a key pillar of our engagement strategy. At News18, we uniquely combine our newsroom agility with immersive gaming experiences. By blending credible content with interactive formats, we are creating meaningful engagement in an era defined by shrinking attention spans and evolving consumption habits.”
Select titles have expanded beyond News18.com to CNBC-TV18.com and Firstpost.com, reflecting the network’s push to deepen user interaction across platforms. The Book Cricket game is live now at https://www.news18.com/games/book-cricket/.
In a tournament where every boundary counts, News18’s digital Book Cricket proves the simplest games can still deliver the biggest smiles no syllabus required, just pure cricket joy one page-flip at a time.
