German cable operators Tele Columbus and Primacom have launched their multimedia home gateway AdvanceTV, a central entertainment hub combining the TV, video and media offers in the customer’s household.
The multiscreen platform comprises linear TV channels, subscription video-on-demand (VOD) service maxdome, a transactional VOD service offering Hollywood blockbusters, an electronic programme guide and Wi-Fi integration of tablets and smartphones.
The core element is the AdvanceTV box acting as the system’s switchboard and offered to customers for €4.99 per month. The version with a 1TB hard-drive for TV recordings and time-shifted television is available for €8.99 per month. The receivers can also be bought for €199.99 and €299.99 respectively.
The set-top-boxes are Ultra HD/4K compliant, contain four tuners and can serve tablets and smartphones within the reach of customer’s local Wi-Fi network for example with linear TV channels and VOD content.
The integrated app portal contains apps from players such as Vimeo, Flickr, Dailymotion, Google Maps, Wikipedia, wetter.com, Deezer, TuneIn and Deutsche Welle.
Tele Columbus and Primacom offer their customer several packages bundling the box and access to maxdome in combination with digital TV, HD and pay-TV services including Sky Deutschland as well as cable telephony and broadband internet access.
AdvanceTV will shortly also be introduced by KMS München and Cablesurf (Pepcom) which are also part of Tele Columbus group.
German cable operator Unitymedia, a subsidiary of Liberty Global, already offers home gateway Horizon while Vodafone, Germany’s largest cable operator following the acquisition of Kabel Deutschland, plans to deploy a central multimedia hub later this year.