Antenna Hungaria, the Hungarian TV and radio network operator, expands
its interactive TV services trial in Budapest, Hungary. The iTV
(interactive television) services are built on the MHP, the Multimedia
Home Platform. Sofia Digital has delivered a complete service
management and application launcher solution, Sofia Backstage® Manager,
for controlling and managing the lifecycle of various MHP applications.
The iTV content can be decoded with DVB-T/MHP-capable set-top boxes or
integrated digital TV sets (IDTV’s).
Cooperation between Antenna Hungaria and Sofia Digital has been
active since 2001, and Antenna Hungaria already uses several products
from Sofia Digital, Sofia Access® for EPG and Sofia Arena® for
Superteletext Services.
“For the time being, the MHP applications are broadcast via the
digital terrestrial TV transmitters in two regions in Hungary. Our
strategy is to extend the DVB-T coverage step-by-step to the the whole
country” says Mr. Sandor Hegedus, deputy CEO of Antenna Hungaria. “The
experiences of the present trial should provide us the necessary
technical basis for the commercial launch of the enhanced and
interactive digital television. We expect that the responsible
authorities can settle the regulatory issues in a short time so that
our customers can enjoy all services that the interactive TV can
deliver, including e. g. EPG, superteletext, home shopping,
tele-banking, tele-voting and even Internet access through the TV set.
The launcher solution which we are introducing now with Sofia makes the
navigation among the various iTV applications quite easy.”
“We see the expansion of the service level in this MHP trial very
important. We are also looking forward to cooperate with Antenna
Hungaria in developing new innovative interactive services in the area
of e-Government, T-Commerce, Gaming and Betting”, states Petri
Martikainen, CEO of Sofia Digital.
