EWE and VSE Net turn to Deutsche Netzmarketing-backed platform for TV

German broadband service providers EWE and VSE Net have become the latest German operators to sign up for the white-label TV platform developed by Switzerland-based technology provider Zattoo and German set-top provider ABOX42.

The pair’s adoption of the platform follows Zattoo and ABOX42’s joint offering being chosen by cable marketing organsiation Deutsche Netzmarketing (DNMG) at the end of 2015 to provide an end-to-end TV solution for its members.

Oldenburg, Lower Saxony-based EWE is launching a multiscreen TV offering using the platform, following its launch of a mobile TV service a month ago. The new service enables viewing on subscribers’ main TV screens as well as on other devices.

The service is hosted by Zattoo, with ABOX42 supplying set-tops.

In addition to the set-top box hardware, the ABOX42 software stack and lifecycle management system, Karlsruhe-based ABOX42 provides the interfaces for the integration of the Zattoo TV application.

ABOX42’s set-top, in addition to live TV, supports functions such as personal recordings in SD and HD as well as Teletext and HbbTV.

Viewers have access to over 100 live TV channels across multiple devices, including over 50 HD channels in the basic package, a premium HD offering and optional foreign-language packages. The EWE TV offering has also integrated ProSiebenSat.1’s on-demand service Maxdome.

EWE provides telecom services to about 600,000 users in North-West Germany.

“It is important to us to offer a modern product for the television experience at home. Thanks to the cooperation with Zattoo and ABOX42, we are able to position ourselves in the market with a competitive TV offer,” said Alexander Kreis, head of product management services at EWE.

Broadband service provider VSE Net is also set to launch an online TV service using the Zattoo and ABOX42 platform. The service, which is set to launch in December, will be available to VSE Net’s Schlau.com customers in the Saarland region in South-West Germany.

Other service providers that have taken up the DNMG-endorsed platform include regional telecom operator M-net for its TVplus service, BBV Deutschland and NetCologne.