Kirch moved a lot of d-boxes in 1998. A new competitor, Galaxis, is made by Samsung..........................
netcentral.co.uk
multi-international.com
MTV Germany, Kirch Make Digital Advances
By DIETER BROCKMEYER February 1, 1999
Frankfurt, Germany -- MTV Germany and The Kirch Group have picked up speed on the digital front.
MTV said it plans to launch up to five digital channels, split between Germany's cable and digital direct-to-home platforms.
In cooperation with Deutsche Telekom A.G., the country's dominant telco and cable operator, MTV will "soon" launch two digital channels -- M2 and MTV Select -- MTV Germany general manager Christiane Salm zu Salm said.
Deutsche Telekom will officially launch its digital bouquet in April. So far, it only includes a so-called ethnic package of channels, which will be expanded.
MTV also has three separate digital channels in development for Kirch's DF1 digital-DTH platform, although details remain sketchy. It is unclear when the channels -- MTV Charts, MTV Rock and MTV Jazz -- will launch, MTV and DF1 said.
DF1 currently has only "the option for these channels," DF1 spokesman Nickolaus von der Decken said.
DF1 -- which was troubled by a slow subscriber uptake when it launched in 1996 -- is now picking up speed. It currently claims about 300,000 subscribers, and it expects that number to double by the end of the year.
Last week, The Walt Disney Co. said the long-delayed German launch of its digital Disney Channel will take place this fall on DF1. The platform also secured exclusive German rights to the Wimbledon Championships tennis tournament for the next three years.
Kirch's increased push is necessary because its competitors are also making advances.
The Free Universal Network -- an alliance of some members of the ARD public-broadcaster group, along with equipment makers -- was officially unveiled last week. FUN plans to use digital set-top decoder boxes based on the OpenTV standard to compete with Kirch's "d-box."
Galaxis, a FUN member and equipment manufacturer, already produces the boxes. So far, they can only receive ARD's digital-broadcast signals.
Competing with the d-box may be difficult. There are currently about 750,000 d-boxes in the German market. About 450,000 are used by subscribers to the digital-premium services of pay TV provider Premiere, of which Kirch owns 25 percent. Galaxis expects to produce 30,000 of the Open TV-compliant boxes by this fall.
Kirch last week published specifications for its application-programming interface, which will enable service-providers, such as Internet and interactive-gaming companies, to program their individual applications for the d-box.
The d-box will also be capable of using public broadcaster ARD's "bookmark" feature. ARD has criticized the d-box for its past inability to do so, defending its own digital approach. Now, ARD says it will re-examine the possibility of using the d-box for its own digital applications.
|
