Orange Launches 'la nouvelle TV d'Orange' Service with Viaccess and Orca Interactive

France Telecom (Paris: FTE; NYSE: FTE) Orange’s next generation service rollout rates as the most ambitious and largest IPTV platform migration ever attempted

PARIS and RA’ANANA, Israel — France-based Orange has launched “la nouvelle TV d’Orange”, a next-generation subscription TV service which allows Orange to upgrade its IPTV service with a state-of-the-art user-experience and prepare the infrastructure for the new challenges of Over-the-Top (OTT) video, multiple screens and unlimited content. “la nouvelle TV d’Orange” boasts a new user interface, which includes VOD, CatchUp TV, content discovery and recommendations, EPG, PVR, self-developed applications and more.

Viaccess a leader in content security solutions, and its fully-owned subsidiary Orca Interactive, a pioneer and leader in IPTV middleware, provide a unified service platform which includes the Service Delivery Platform, Content Discovery platform, Conditional Access System and native multi-screen solution. It is adapted for IPTV, OTT delivery and Hybrid, combining different delivery modes.

Beginning in late November 2011, Orange began migrating its customer base of IPTV customers to Viaccess and Orca’s Unified Platform. Migration of satellite customers will follow. Overall, Orange has over 5.1m customers to its TV services in Europe as of Dec 31 2011. This represents the largest-ever IPTV middleware migration, a process in which three different existing services over ADSL, FTTH and hybrid satellite-IP will be converged onto a single unified platform from Orca and Viaccess.

To date, approximately 400,000 subscribers have joined the new service platform in less than three months.

Orange’s primary motive for adopting this unified platform concerned service velocity – the ability to rapidly develop and introduce innovative new apps into the market without being dependent on the vendor. It also provides the ability to seamlessly combine linear and non-linear viewing and increase device independence.

Today, Orange faces stiff competition in the French market. A key differentiator in the new service is COMPASS, a unique Content Discovery platform which personalizes the content offering for each user according to their preferences and usage habits.

Francois Moreau de Saint Martin, CEO of Viaccess and Chairman of Orca, said: “With “la nouvelle TV d’Orange” service, Orange has taken a big step forward and is now able to provide a more up-to-date, comprehensive service. However, the competition for Pay TV subscribers in France and around the world is increasing. To maintain their position, operators such as Orange must provide a great experience for the viewers. A personalized service that meets the users on their own terms, anytime, anywhere allowing viewers to enjoy the full range of content provided, is the logical next step in order to keep them engaged and prevent churn.”

Haggai Barel, CEO of Orca Interactive, added: “Our solutions answer that need. Our rich offering enables Orange to innovate with minimal time to market and with optimized cost. Furthermore, COMPASS assists “la nouvelle TV d’Orange” viewers in making content purchasing decisions, thereby improving the operator’s profitability thanks to an increase in content consumption and more controlled demand.”

Philippe Rozes, head of TV service platforms at Orange Group, said: “The operational difficulty of managing multiple separate service platforms (for ADSL, web and Hybrid Satellite-IP) was impairing our ability to keep pace with the market. Collapsing all those separate silos onto a single platform has given us significant operational efficiency and has freed up resources to allow us to innovate faster. The use of advanced solutions, such as RiGHTv and COMPASS, helps us improve our service velocity while the tight integration with Viaccess’ IPCAS content protection solutions ensures that we are able to preserve the value of our premium content.”