Espial (TSX:ESP) and German cable operator Tele Columbus announced the commercial availability of advanceTV, a 4K hybrid IP video service set to launch in January. The multiscreen service will include TV, movies, apps, OTT video, and web content including integration with maxdome, a German SVOD service.
Tele Columbus, which serves about 3.6 million households, is using the Espial Media Service Platform to provide policy management, content management and cross-device services. Paired with the Espial G4 STB Client - based on RDK and HTML5 - it powers advanceTV's content navigation and discovery with a user interface, recommendations, and unified search across all content and devices.
Espial Elite professional services served as master system integrator. The team integrated components from Cisco, Verimatrix, Elemental, Humax and others.
"Our strategy is to deliver an unsurpassed video experience to German subscribers. We see the fragmentation OTT services are driving into the marketplace and resolved to provide a compelling one-stop shop for the widest range of content available to any cable connection in Germany: 4K TV, VOD, maxdome SVOD, a rich universe of web apps, and timeshift viewing via an integrated DVR," said Ronny Verhelst, CEO of Tele Columbus Group. "Espial has proven to be an exceptional integration and solution partner, and we're excited to deploy advanceTV beginning next month."