UPC Cablecom is launching its Horizon entertainment platform in Switzerland on Monday, January 14.
Switzerland is the second country where Liberty Global is launching the Horizon service. The Netherlands was first, where Horizon launched in September, 2012.
Although consumer demand in the Netherlands was big, Horizon suffered from a number of teething problems since its launch. During the past few months, UPC issued a number if software updates solving some, but not all of the issues.
Horizon comes with six integrated TV tuners. Two of them ensure fast zapping because the next channels are already being loaded in the background. That means there is no longer a time lag before the next channel is displayed.
The other four tuners enable four programmes to be recorded simultaneously in HD. The Horizon HD Recorder can record 175 hours of programmes (more than 100 films in SD quality) or more than 65 hours of programmes in HD quality (more than 40 HD films).
Horizon customers can now also watch their favourite TV channels and more than 1,000 films and series on their computer via the horizon.tv website.
Additionally, Horizon subscribers can use the Horizon TV app to watch TV and films On Demand on their iPad or iPhone.
UPC Cablecom is offering the Horizon set-top with three combination deals: Horizon Start Combi, Horizon Plus Combi and Horizon Super Combi. The offers differ slightly from the Horizon pricing in the Netherlands, but this is obviously a result of different market situations.
Horizon Start Combi is the entry level combination deal featuring the Compact TV channel package, 35 Mbit/s internet and FreePhone Weekend.
The Horizon Plus Combi offers the Classic TV channels package, 75 Mbit/s internet and FreePhone Swiss.
The highest-performance combination deal is the Horizon Super Combi featuring the Comfort channel package, 150 Mbit/s internet and FreePhone Global.
“With Horizon, UPC Cablecom is offering an attractive user interface and a completely new television look and feel designed to wow our customers. Horizon is opening up new opportunities in the entertainment arena, both for us and for our customers. This innovation is the result of great international cooperation within Liberty Global,” said UPC Cablecom managing director Eric Tveter.