German cable operator Unitymedia is the second Liberty Global owned provider in Europe to introduce a CI Plus module for its cable customers. The CAM is available for rent for €4 monthly.
Included in the monthly rental fee is the cabler’s basic tier comprising 73 TV channels and 69 radio stations, as well as five HD channels, including Das Erste HD, ZDF HD and Sport1 HD.
In order to be eligible for the CI Plus module, customers need to subsribe to the basic digital tier for €17.90 a month and an activation fee of €39.90 is payable. The module works with SD and HD receivers equipped with a CI Plus slot.
“We support the transition to digital TV reception in Germany and we offer the highest quality and diversity to our customers. With the HD module we now add access to our digital TV offer in a simple and convenient way for the second or third set,” said Maik Emmermann, SVP, marketing and product management at Unitymedia.
In a related development, the cabler said that it will rearrange its analogue channel line-up from January 25, removing two channels from the so-called S-band. The number of analogue channels will also be reduced with BBC World, TV5 Monde and/or HSE24 home shopping disappearing. These channels will remain available in basic digital.
Unitymedia serves 4.5 million cable customers in the states of Northrhine-Westphalia and Hesse, including 1.5 million digital TV subscribers.
Liberty Global has now introduced CI Plus on its Swiss network UPC Cablecom and in Germany. Last September, its Dutch operation UPC Nederland also announced it would introduce CI Plus to the martket, but so far have not announced a date for the introduction of the module.
