Nine European cable network operators with more than 35 million combined connected homes will support DVB-C2, the second-generation baseline transmission system for DTV broadcasting via cable networks.
The nine cable operators include: YouSee in Denmark; Numericable in France; Kabel Baden Württemberg, Unitymedia and Kabel Deutschland in Germany; Ziggo in the Netherlands; ZON in Portugal; ONO in Spain; and Com Hem in Sweden.
According to Peter Siebert, executive director of the DVB Project, DVB-C2 will provide the additional capacity required for the introduction of new tiers of HDTV, video-on-demand and interactive TV services.
DVB-C2 employs the latest modulation and coding techniques to enable highly efficient use of cable networks. It offers a range of modes and options that can be optimized for the different network characteristics and the requirements of the different services planned for delivery to cable customers. It offers spectrum efficiency greater than 30 percent compared to today’s DVB-C system. After analog switch-off, the gains in downstream capacity will be greater than 60 percent for optimized HFC networks.
