Tandberg Television, part of the Ericsson Group, has announced that Hybrid Television Services (ANZ) Pty Limited, the exclusive licensee of TiVo products in Australia and New Zealand, is deploying a complete suite of Tandberg Television software solutions to enable carrier class Video On-Demand to the television via broadband Internet.

Hybrid TV will give New Zealand customers access to a wide range of on-demand movies and TV programming via its TiVo media device from November. CASPA On-Demand is the brand name for this world of broadband entertainment including new release movies, hit TV shows for the whole family as well as free music videos, artist interviews and music concerts. CASPA represents one of the first and largest implementations of true on-demand to the television in Australasia.

"People want to watch television on the television," said Robbee Minicola, CEO at Hybrid TV. "This is not only broadcast TV - but also includes TV content delivered over broadband. By enabling VOD movies and television content within the TiVo service we are giving our customers more than free-to-air television...we are providing it all without any late fees or trips to the video store. We needed a strategic partner that shared our vision for a personalised, multi-screen TV future. What we did not expect, but experienced first hand, was their professional approach and their willingness to stand, side-by-side with us through the entire process...which often resulted in us all working until the wee hours of the morning."

As part of a centralised, multi-territory VOD service, Hybrid TV is using Tandberg Television's new WatchPoint content management system (CMS), OpenStream digital services platform on-demand back-office solution, AdPoint advanced advertising platform and Xport Producer storage encoding solution.

The CASPA on-demand service will be delivered using progressive download over a subscriber's existing broadband connection and complements the free-to-air digital terrestrial television services available via TiVo receivers in New Zealand and Australia. Tandberg Television and Ericsson played a critical role in helping Hybrid TV meet its ambitious New Zealand launch deadline, creating a working beta solution within two months and enabling commercial roll-out a month later.

Dario Choi, executive VP & general manager, Asia Pacific, Tandberg Television, said: "Hybrid TV is an innovative service provider that is changing the way people watch television. We are proud to be involved in this landmark project and to provide Hybrid TV with our complete suite of software products, which enable efficient VOD management and are designed to deliver the highest quality experience to every device, across every platform. We are really pleased with how fast and painless our integration with TiVo applications and content discovery processes has been. That is a tribute to our open architecture solutions and our professional services."

www.tandbergtv.com