Ziggo, Holland’s largest cable operator, will introduce a number of iPad and iPhone applications in the coming months. The cabler has also announced it is expanding its HD offer and is cutting back the basic analogue tier to 25 channels.
The operator is taking cautious steps towards a TV Everywhere model. Over the next few weeks, apps for iPad and iPhone will become available which will offer an EPG, remote PVR control and social networks integration.
For the time being, actual broadcast content is not part of the offer, but there will be trailers, according to Jurriaan Pennink, VP consumer market. During the coming months, Ziggo will roll out a total of 600,000 router modems to its subscribers in order to make content delivery in the home to mobile devices possible.
Ziggo has also restructured its digital TV offer with three bouquets. A basic digital tier (TV Standaard) that consists of 63 SD channels, 11 HD channels and catch-up TV and VOD access costs €16.95; an extended tier (TV Plus) offering around 90 SD channels and 15 HD channels is available at €24.95, while the top-tier TV Extra package offers 119 SD channels and 24 HD channels. All tiers include the basic analogue bouquet of 25 channels.
“We have put 11 HD channels in our basic package, as we believe this is part of the digital experience,” said Marcel Nijhoff, CCO. This bouquet comprises all major Dutch public and private channels. The total line-up of the 24 HD channel offer will be announced at a later date, but Nijhof confirmed BBC HD will be part of it.
In addition to the 24 HD channels, Ziggo also offers Eredivisie Live HD, Sport 1 HD and Film 1 HD as premium options, bringing the total to 27 HD channels and making it one of the widest offers available on the market. Ziggo has stopped its 3D channel, but is looking to find new content partners after SBS decided to pull the plug out of its Net 5 3D channel due to copyright issues. “We are now talking to several parties to launch a new 3D channel,” said Penning, “and of course we still have 3D content in our VOD library.”
Ziggo reported that it ssurpassed 1.8 million digital subscribers at the end of 2010. Of these about 50% take additional packages, extended and/or premium.
