PCCW, which now has over half a million subscribers in Hong Kong, has announced plans for the world’s first high-definition television service over broadband telephone lines.
PCCW, which now has over half a million subscribers in Hong Kong, has announced plans for the world’s first high-definition television service over broadband telephone lines.
PCCW in Hong Kong has chosen Tandberg Television to provide the MPEG-4 encoding equipment for a world-first roll-out of high-definition television over DSL broadband telephone lines.
The Now pay-television service was first launched in 2003 and has been using Tandberg Television MPEG-2 encoding for its premium channels.
“We have grown a successful standard definition business with Tandberg Television’s IP video head-end and are now excited to be the first operator in Asia to offer HDTV based on the MPEG-4 AVC platform,” said Paul Berriman, head of strategic market development at PCCW.
“To be part of the pioneering move to HD in Asia and at the same time achieve a world-first by leading the way in enabling HD over DSL is thrilling for us,” said Graham Cradock of Tandberg Television Asia Pacific.
The announcement came as delegates assembled in Hong Kong for the first IPTV Asia Forum, an international conference on the opportunities for broadband television.