The Orbit Satellite Television and Radio Network, a major regional satellite pay television provider, and Canal+ Technologies, an international provider of digital and interactive TV software solutions, announced that they have signed licensing contracts to foster the development of interactive TV in the Middle East.
According to the terms of the contracts, Canal+ Technologies will supply its interactive system and its conditional access system and will ensure integration into Orbit's digital set-top boxes (DSTB). The DSTBs will be deployed throughout Orbit's footprint, which covers 23 countries.
Canal+ Technologies will provide Orbit with a range of interactive TV applications. According to a company press release, Canal+ Technologies also intends to develop specific interactive applications for Orbit, such as interactive programming navigation tools —among which a channel list, a video and a radio stations mozaic—pay-per-view services and interactive games. To better respond to market needs, many applications will be in Arabic.
A subsidiary of Canal+, the TV & Film division of Vivendi Universal, Canal+ Technologies is an provider of digital and interactive TV software solutions. According to the company, over 20 digital broadcasters have deployed the interactive TV middleware Mediahighway and the conditional access system Mediaguard, among them Canalsatellite in France, ONdigital in the UK, AT&T Broadband in the US, Astro Measat and ZeeTV in Asia.
The Orbit Satellite Television and Radio Network is a fully digital, multi-channel, multi-lingual, pay-television service. Orbit broadcasts to the Arab world original Arabic and Western entertainment channels. — (Albawaba-MEBG)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
