Pace partners with M7 Group in major HD roll out

Benelux operator, M7, selects Pace for next generation HD zapper and HD PVR products

Luxembourg-based satellite TV operator M7 Group S.A. has chosen set-top box technology from Pace plc (LSE:PIC) to bring high definition (HD) TV content and personal video recording to its customers. Pace will develop M7’s next generation of HD devices: an HD set-top box and an HD personal video recorder (PVR).

M7 Group S.A. provides DTH satellite TV services to residential and business customers in the Benelux countries using its brand names CanalDigitaal, TV Vlaanderen and TeleSAT. The new Pace HD zapper is being deployed today and the new HD PVR set-top boxes will follow later this year.

Andrei Noppe, Executive Vice President at M7, said; “In the coming months we will invest heavily in adding attractive HD television channels for our customers. It is therefore crucial that we can supply the right set-top-boxes to our customers. The Pace products we have selected provide the desired customer experience and allow us to grow our business into the future.”

Both Pace boxes will include the Nagravision Conditional Access system and OpenTV middleware-based NagraGuide, a suite of interactive applications designed to make the most of today’s PVR set-top boxes. The boxes have also been designed according to Pace’s low environmental impact (LEI) initiative, part of its ongoing ‘Design for the Environment’ framework being adopted across the entire range of Pace products.

Hervé Mathieu, General Manager, Nagra Customer Account Team and VP Sales, Pace France commented; “This agreement helps M7 to bring the HD experience to more of its subscribers and contributes to our own success by consolidating our presence in a very important market. Our HD capabilities are unrivalled in the payTV industry, which is why so many operators across the globe are dependent on us to open up the potential of HD services to their customers.”

M7 currently offers TV services in the Netherlands using the brand name CanalDigitaal, in Flanders in Belgium using the brandname TV Vlaanderen, and in Wallonie in Belgium and in Luxemburg using the brand name TéléSAT.