Telenet to launch Teletenne DTT in Belgium

MECHELEN — Telenet will launch its new television product, Teletenne, on Monday 2 July. With an aerial and a special decoder, customers in Flanders and Brussels will be able to watch TV with superior picture and sound quality, even where a cable connection is difficult or impossible. Teletenne is therefore ideal for second homes, summer houses, as well as for student rooms, bedrooms or houses situated outside the cable service area.

In February 2010 Telenet concluded an agreement with Norkring Belgium for the use of capacity on their DTT network (Digital Terrestrial TV), allowing Telenet to offer its subscribers in Flanders and Brussels aerial TV over Norkring’s TV masts. With Teletenne, Telenet now launches a commercial offer. More specifically, for €11.50/month viewers can watch these 13 channels in digital picture and sound quality: Eén, Canvas, Ketnet/Op12, Vijf TV, VT4, Acht, National Geographic, MTV, Kanaal Z, Nickelodeon, Njam, Studio 100TV and Ment TV. More channels will be added in the near future. The electronic programme guide (EPG) gives programme details two days ahead. The customer is not bound by a contract.

Bart Bosmans, CEO Norkring Belgium: “Over the past two years, Norkring and Telenet worked together closely to be able to present this new product to the general public today. We are proud that we have given an innovative impulse to DTT technology in Flanders and Brussels and that we have built the most innovative network. Norkring will further upgrade its commercial DTT network to the very latest broadcasting standards DVB-T2 in the near future. This makes Belgium one of the first countries in Europe (after the UK) to roll out this technology on a large scale, offering a tremendous improvement in mobile TV reception in digital quality. For Norkring this is but a first step in a continuous innovation process.”

Inge Smidts, Senior Vice-President Residential Marketing: “With Teletenne we want to show that Telenet follows the customer everywhere. From now on you can easily watch television in digital picture quality in your second home, bedroom, caravan or student room. Several more channels will be added in the coming months. With Teletenne we respond to changing trends whereby consumers are accustomed to having access, always and everywhere, to their favourite entertainment services.”

How it works

Viewers do not need cable or satellite to watch digital terrestrial television. All they need is a Teletenne smartcard and special kit with a small indoor antenna and a Teletenne-certified decoder. These will be available from any Telenet Center, Telenet Shop, Belcompany or SmartSpot store as from 2 July. The toolkit costs €129. Since the decoder is not interactive and contains no hard disk, programmes cannot be recorded or ordered. The decoder can be connected to any TV appliance with SCART or HDMI port.

Where it works

Teletenne can be received in the broadcast area covered by Norkring. This roughly coincides with Telenet’s service area, Flanders and Brussels. Customers can check on the website www.telenet.be/teletenne whether they can receive Teletenne in their chosen location. They can take the decoder abroad with them so that they can watch all ‘free to air’ channels (radio or TV channels that are transmitted without encryption and can therefore be received free of charge).