The German cable operator TeleColumbus is to launch its own digital headend in the sky on the Eutelsat Eurobid 9 satellite. Starting in May with two transponders and 20 channels, the platform is planned to grow to five transponders and 50 channels. Tele Columbus is Germany’s third largest cable operator with more than 3.7 million homes connected.
The new platform will shortly begin testing and will officially launch in May. Starting with two transponders, Tele Columbus plans to ramp up to five transponders hosting more than 50 digital channels and services. The initial offer of 20 private German channels will be multiplexed, encrypted and uplinked to Eurobird 9 by Eutelsat. The platform is also an important step in extending the digital service provided by KabelKiosk to independent cable operators and other interested operators. KabelKiosk already delivers 60 German and international channels to more than 230 small to medium-sized cable network operators in Germany.
The Tele Columbus Group was formed in November 2006 following the merger of Tele Columbus GmbH and ewt multimedia GmbH under the umbrella of Orion Cable. With around 3.7 million connected households, Tele Columbus is currently the third largest cable provider in Germany and the biggest cable operator on network level 4.
