JOSSIP REPORTS As Rupert Murdoch's NDS-EchoStar pay-TV hacking lawsuit continues this morning, an inside source tells Jossip that NDS chief Abe Peled will appear in the courtroom, in person, to testify.

On April 30 he submitted a video deposition to the California court, but suddenly disappeared to London without testifying in person, though he was scheduled to appear as a witness for his company, which makes DirecTV's customer access cards.

Peled's NDS, a News Corp. subsidiary, stands accused of hacking EchoStar's access cards and posting the information on the web for pirates to use to gain free access to NDS competitor NagraStar (which EchoStar provides service to).

In an interesting twist, Peled escaped testimony because NDS listed him as a witness, which meant plaintiff EchoStar felt it didn't need to subpoena him to testify. Oops.

But today, we're told, they'll get to question him. Murdoch, meanwhile, is not expected for the 8:30am local call time.