LONDON: NDS Group, the maker of pay TV anti-piracy equipment owned by News Corp, announced today that its first-quarter earnings rose 24 per cent to 8.34 million pounds, citing contract wins in Asia.

 
According to a Reuters' report, the company, which makes encrypted smart cards and other anti-piracy software, said that in the last year's Q1, revenues fell 17 per cent to 52 million pounds ($87.07 million) due to a weaker US dollar and high volumes shipped to US pay TV company DirecTV

NDS purchased Thomson's Mediahighway set-top box technology unit in September for 60 million euros ($68.66 million) in cash.