Global Digital Broadcast has signed a deal with leading provider of high-definition technologies, VeHDa, to release and install 500,000 IP set top boxes in the UK market by the end of 2008.
The partnership makes use of existing resources owned by both VeHDa and its sister company play TV, which include 200 installation engineers located around the country, 800 sales and customer service staff and over 200 new vehicles used to transport the boxes.
The HD VeHDa set top boxes are pre-programmed with over 700 channels from 84 countries, allowing UK consumers to watch 'local TV' wherever their geographical location. Initial channels will include local and international channels, Play TV films, Play TV entertainment, Play TV sport, popular generic content and Freeview programmes.
Play TV spokesman, Mr. David Reynolds, said, “The development of IPTV means that we can now deliver real-time streaming to the UK market and the GDB/VeHDa/Play partnership will give the consumer a much wider selection of competitively-priced programming options.
The roll-out of the VeHDa boxes, which are manufactured by IP set-top box specialist, CIMA Technology, will start in September 2007.
Mr. Angus Kirkwood, co-founder of CIMA, adds, “We feel that GDB and VeHDa have a clear vision of what IPTV can truly offer to the customer and that this exceeds the limited offerings from BT and Sky. I see this as a great opportunity to demonstrate both the core talents of the CIMA STB design team and the skill of the CIMA manufacturers in China.”
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