German direct-to-cable platform KabelKiosk will add new HD channels to its line-up this autumn, Martina Rutenbeck, managing director of operating company M7 Deutschland, told Broadband TV News.
The new channels will be both pay-TV and free-to-air services and mainly provide family entertainment, said Rutenbeck without going into further detail.
The new IPTV/OTT platform meinFernsehen (myTelevision) which KabelKiosk launched at trade fair ANGA COM in May 2014, underwent friendly user tests in the past weeks on three partners’ networks. The restart, replay and video-on-demand (VOD) features emerged as the most popular services among users, said Rutenbeck.
While the classic KabelKiosk business provides small and medium-sized cable operators with TV packages and other services, meinFernsehen targets city carriers, fibre-network operators and IPTV providers with an IPTV/OTT platform which includes full multi-screen support.
The first contracts with carriage partners offering meinFernsehen as a regular service will be announced in Q4 2014, said Rutenbeck. The platform currently contains 150 TV channels, 50 of them in HD quality, VOD and catch-up TV services. Local TV and more foreign-language channels are the next development stages.
KabelKiosk is keen on offering Ultra HD channels, said Rutenbeck, but added that this was depending on broadcasters. She expects to carry the first linear Ultra HD channels in three to four years, but Ultra HD content might become available earlier on VOD services.
Luxembourg-based media company M7 Group acquired KabelKiosk from satellite operator Eutelsat in May 2014. The competition authorities approved the deal in early August 2014. KabelKiosk’s operating company M7 Deutschland remains based in Cologne with its 25 staff members and continues to be headed by Martina Rutenbeck and Alessandro Lanfranconi.
