The Dutch telecom authority OPTA has officially notified the European Commission about its plan to open up cable networks in The Netherlands to third party distributors of analogue TV signals. If the Commission does not object, the new rules will become effective on March 17.
The new rulings will mainly affect the two largest operators in the country, Ziggo with 3.2 million connected homes and UPC with over 2.1 million homes. The cablers will have to facilitate third party analogue TV service providers over their networks.
All four major Dutch cable operators, which also include CAIW and Delta, oppose the new access rules claiming there is enough competition between infrastructures (IPTV, DTT and DTH).
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Connected TV Forecasts NEW REPORT. The number of TV sets connected to the Internet will reach 551 million by 2016 for the 40 countries covered in this report from Digital TV Research, up from 124 million at end-2010. The report states that this translates to 20% of global TV sets by 2016, up from only 6% at end-2010. Published in November 2011, this 83-page PDF report is the most geographically comprehensive to ever be published.