Interactive TV software provider, OpenTV (note: voting control of the company was acquired last year by content-protection
specialist, the Kudelski Group--see [itvt] Issue 7.16 Part 1), says that it is powering a new HD PVR service for its existing customer,
Australian pay-TV provider, Foxtel (note: the latter has around 1.5
million subscribers on its cable and satellite systems). Dubbed
Foxtel iQ2, the new service is based on a quad-tuner set-top box
from Pace (see article in this issue) that provides close to twice the
recording capacity of Foxtel's existing iQ PVR service. The service
also employs NDS's XTV PVR technology (see article in this
issue). According to OpenTV, Foxtel customers can utilize PVR
functionality both on Foxtel's SD service and its newly launched Foxtel
HD+ high-definition service on a single box at a touch of a button. The
company says that this is made possible by its Core2 middleware with
integrated PVR support, which provides the interfaces necessary for
HD multi-tuner set-top devices that support advanced services such as
multiple simultaneous recordings in both SD and HD while pausing
live TV. "Foxtel has once again shown leadership by being the first
News Corporation network to deploy OpenTV Core2," OpenTV CEO,
Ben Bennett, said in a prepared statement. "We are very proud to
partner with Foxtel on the introduction of their first high-definition
platform and continue to work with them to innovate and provide new
and advanced services to their subscribers." Features supported by
OpenTV's PVR solution include live pause, instant rewind, one-touch
record, dual record, and integrated HDCP content-protection
management.
