OpenTV trumpeted the news that its interactive software has been embedded in more than 100 million TV sets and set-top boxes (STBs) worldwide.
Since its first deployments in 1997, OpenTV’s technology has grown an industry footprint that extends into 100 countries, through partnerships with more than 50 network operators and 40 STB manufacturers.
OpenTV’s customers include News Corp., EchoStar and Liberty Global; STB manufacturers such as Pace Micro Technology and Thomson; chipset vendors such as ST Microelectronics and Broadcom; and conditional access partners such as Nagravision, Irdeto and NDS.
“As we surpass the 100-million device mark, I can proudly state that OpenTV’s technology has truly become the cornerstone of digital television services around the world,” said Ben Bennett, OpenTV’s COO.
“This is no small feat when you consider the size and complexity of the global television industry,” Bennett continued. “We have come a long way since the late ’90s when HDTV, DVRs and advanced interactive services were still immature technologies and not fully consumer-grade quality. That has now changed as we see the deployment of much more advanced interactivity being integrated with the traditional viewing experience.”
Meanwhile, Portugal’s Zon TV Cabo will be using OpenTV’s middleware and enterprise products to enable its upcoming launch of a high-definition personal video recorder (HD PVR) service.
The OpenTV technologies selected by Zon TV Cabo include OpenTV Core2 and OpenTV PVR2, the company’s fifth-generation middleware technology that is designed to support both HD and standard-definition (SD) displays. Zon is an existing customer of Nagravision’s conditional access technologies.
“Adding Zon TV Cabo as a customer further reinforces our footprint and cable presence in Europe, with Portugal being an important new market for us,” said Ben Bennett, OpenTV’s COO. “Through our strong partnership with Nagravision and the Kudelski Group, we are offering bundled, turnkey solutions to operators worldwide. Our goal is to simplify the purchasing and technology deployment process for our customers and deliver advanced interactive services to market rapidly and cost effectively.”
Zon TV Cabo is a cable and satellite provider with more than 1.5 million subscribers in Portugal. The operator is planning to launch its HD PVR service in the second quarter of this year, with a number of new services to follow soon after, including video-on-demand (VOD).
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