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Digital TV Hots up in Spain
May 27, 1997
The adoption of the Common Interface standard through the purchase of Nokia digital decoders for digital television by the new broadcasting company, Vía Digital, in Spain pushes forward trend towards digital TV in Europe.
With Spain being one of a growing number of countries in Europe to launch fully digital broadcasting, it is significant that Nokia Multimedia Network Terminals has settled an agreement in this market. Some 50,000 Mediamaster digital decoders will be delivered in time for the launch of the Spanish service in September.
According to Jari Valtonen, Account Manager of Nokia Multimedia Network Terminals, "Nokia was chosen because its equipment supported the Common Interface for conditional access. This 'open systems' concept is very powerful because it allows the end user to use the same digital decoder for many services."
Greater Freedom
Open standard provides end users with the opportunity to subscribe to a range of services offered by a number of companies rather than being tied to a single supplier.
Nokia Mediamaster 9601 is the first satellite receiver and multimedia terminal of its kind available today to be fully compatible with the digital video broadcasting standard DVB/MPEG 2 and Common Interface. The DVB technology has the ability to offer innovative services such as home shopping, home banking, video-on-demand plus features including reception of digital satellite television signals, Internet connection as well as allowing connection to personal computers, printers and CD-ROM drives.
Agreement with broadcaster
The agreement has been made with Vía Digital, a new company formed by Spain's main broadcasters: the telecommunication giant Telefónica, Radio Television Espaniola, the Mexican media conglomerate Televisa and some other media publishers.
The satellite service company intends to offer subscribers more than 70 television channels in September 1997. Nokia branded digital decoders will be available for rental through a great network of outlets throughout the country, with more than 6 000 selling points.
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