Telenet is to operate a digital terrestrial platform in Brussels and Flanders, Belgium following an agreement with the transmission company Norkring België.
The cable network intends to use the capacity to offer digital TV and radio to remote properties, holiday homes and cars. Telenet says it wants to interact with the customer and to expand its product offering in order to respond to the changing trends in radio and TV consumption.
Details of the proposed channel line-up and pricing will be given at a later date.
In June 2009 Norkring België, a subsidiary of the Norwegian Telenor, received a 15-year licence from VRM (Vlaamse Regulator voor de Media), the Flemish Regulator for the Media. The company subsequently launched a beauty contest to find a commercial partner to operate on its network with a deadline set of July 17, 2009. Until now it has been tight-lipped on the identity of its future partner.
Norkring Belgium was established in March 2009 and operates the broadcast infrastructure owned by public broadcaster VRT (Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep). Last week it emerged Norking has acquired an additional 26% in Norkring België for NOK69 million (€8.59m) from VRT with the public broadcaster holding the remaining 25%.
It is our take that Norkring’s selection of Telenet as its partner comes as a surprise because of the dominant position of the cable operator on the Flemish television market. Most homes subscribe to cable TV and the only alternatives are the IPTV service from Belgacom TV and the DTH platform TV Vlaanderen, but their market shares are relatively small.
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