[Satellite Today – 3-10-08] Viaccess is the latest Conditional Access (CA) company to acquire a middleware company in order to widen its range of services for customers. The company said March 10 that it had signed an agreement to acquire Orca Interactive for $21.4 million. While Viaccess works with a number of satellite pay-TV operators including Canalsat in France, the deal with Orca will particularly strengthen its position in terms of offering combined security and middleware solutions to telcos.
    “Viaccess’s investment in Orca proves that we are standing at the brink of a new era, firmly cementing IPTV’s role in the consolidation of telecommunications services,” said Haggai Barel, CEO of Orca Interactive.”
    Viaccess will acquire 100 percent of the company, and the deal is subject to Orca’s shareholders approving the deal.
The deal follows the trend of traditionally CA companies acquiring middleware assets. In late 2006, The Kudelski Group acquired a controlling interest in OpenTV. In 2003, NDS announced it was buying Canal+ Technologies’ MediaHighway middleware business from Thomson.