YouSee to maintain analogue offer indefinitely

Danish telco TDC’s cable subsidiary YouSee has said it will maintain analogue services indefinitely. Denmark plans to switch off analogue over-the-air broadcasts later this year.

CEO Niels Breining said it was possible that the recent decision of the Danish telecom regulator to force it to open its network to other broadband providers could force it to reduce the number of channels. However, he said he was convinced that the number of analogue channels would remain more or less stable for the next eight to ten years.

The company has 1.1 million direct customers and a further 200,000 indirect customers in Denmark, almost all of whom currently receive analogue TV.

YouSee this week also said it had teamed up with parent group TDC, cable operator Stofa and pay-TV provider Viasat to acquire the rights to show the June 6 World Cup qualifying match between Sweden and Denmark. The match will be aired on YouSee’s digital tier only, and on the digital services of the other providers.

Separately, TDC said its net income for the first quarter decreased by DKK47m (€6.3m) to DKK645m. Cash flow from operating activities grew by 42.5% or DKK838m compared with the first quarter of 2008.

TDC said its customer base was 3.5% higher than the previous year’s figure. The company said its new TDC HomeTrio and TDC HomeDuo multi-play products (the triple-play product includes IPTV), launched in January, had exceeded expectations.