Ziggo
Encyclopedia
Ziggo is the largest cable operator in the Netherlands
, providing cable television
(digital and analog), broadband Internet
, and telephone
service to both residential and commercial customers.
The company is the result of the merger
between Multikabel, @Home Network
, and Casema
and launched officially on May 16, 2008. Its main competitors are KPN
and CanalDigitaal. The other major Dutch cable operator is UPC Netherlands
, which does not compete with Ziggo since their respective coverage areas do not overlap.
Most of the share capital
is held by holding companies of two private equity firm
s: Cinven
and Warburg Pincus
.
firms Cinven
and Warburg Pincus
bought the three companies. In 2000 Multikabel was bought by Cinven
; until then, the company had been mostly government-owned
. In 2005 the company was sold again to Warburg Pincus
.
In 2010 the Ziggo cable network passed 4.123 million homes in the Netherlands.
and digital
cable television
to 3.100 million subscribers of which 1.732 million watch digital. In recent years the number of analogue channels has been reduced to make more bandwidth available for digital HD channels.
and XLnt Radio which offer 35 additional radio channels, as well as interactive video on demand
services.
channels, and include Discovery HD
and NGC HD. Two come with the subscriptions of premium film and sport services Film1
and Sport1
. The rest are part of basic service.
On 4 July 2009 the Dutch public broadcaster NPO started simulcast
ing Nederland 1
, Nederland 2
, and Nederland 3
in 1080i
high-definition
. These public HD channels are part of basic service.
Most of the programming in the early stages consists of upscaled versions of their parent channels as in time more programs will become available in HD. Nederland 1 HD was temporarily available from June 1 until August, 2008 to bring Euro 2008, 2008 Tour de France
and the 2008 Summer Olympics
in HD, the rest of the time will be an upscaled version of its parent channel.
standard. Most standard-definition
channels are encoded in MPEG-2
and most high-definition
channels in H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
. All channels are encrypted with Irdeto2 and require an activated smart card
to be decrypted. Customers can buy a certified set-top box
or Integrated Digital Television
with embedded Irdeto CA
, which are sold by Ziggo and consumer electronic retailers. Additionally customers can buy any television with a DVB-C
tuner and CI+ support with a Ziggo compatible conditional access module
.
to 1.518 million subscribers in the following subscription forms:
With the introduction of EuroDOCSIS 3.0
across the broadband Internet network download speeds have been increased up to 120 Mbit/s except in area's where the network has not been adapted to the EuroDOCSIS 3.0 standard. The latest general speed increase was on 1 April 2011.
In the "test municipalities" of Amersfoort, Enschede, Heerhugowaard, Maastricht, Meppel, Tilburg, Utrecht (postcode 3500-3599), Den Haag (postcode 2500-2599) and Houten the download speed has been increased up to 120 Mbit/s as of 1 July 2010. In these test municipalities the Internet Z3 and Alles-in-1 Plus subscription forms offer higher download speeds than elsewhere.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, providing cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
(digital and analog), broadband Internet
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
, and telephone
Telephone
The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
service to both residential and commercial customers.
The company is the result of the merger
Mergers and acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions refers to the aspect of corporate strategy, corporate finance and management dealing with the buying, selling, dividing and combining of different companies and similar entities that can help an enterprise grow rapidly in its sector or location of origin, or a new field or...
between Multikabel, @Home Network
@Home Network
@Home Network was a high-speed cable Internet service provider from 1996 to 2002. It was founded by Milo Medin, cable companies TCI, Comcast, and Cox Communications, and William Randolph Hearst III, who was their first CEO, as a joint venture to produce high-speed cable Internet service through...
, and Casema
Casema
Casema was a major Dutch provider of cable television, internet and telephone services until the merger with Multikabel and @Home to Ziggo on May 16, 2008...
and launched officially on May 16, 2008. Its main competitors are KPN
KPN
KPN is a Dutch landline and mobile telecommunications company, including both 2G and 3G mobile operations...
and CanalDigitaal. The other major Dutch cable operator is UPC Netherlands
UPC Netherlands
UPC Netherlands is the second largest cable operator in the Netherlands, providing cable television , broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers.-History:...
, which does not compete with Ziggo since their respective coverage areas do not overlap.
Most of the share capital
Share capital
Share capital or issued capital or capital stock refers to the portion of a company's equity that has been obtained by trading stock to a shareholder for cash or an equivalent item of capital value...
is held by holding companies of two private equity firm
Private equity firm
A private equity firm is an investment manager that makes investments in the private equity of operating companies through a variety of loosely affiliated investment strategies including leveraged buyout, venture capital, and growth capital...
s: Cinven
Cinven
Cinven is a British private equity firm founded in 1977 with offices in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Milan and Hong Kong. Currently, the company has raised four funds, with the last one signing up €6.5 billion...
and Warburg Pincus
Warburg Pincus
Warburg Pincus, LLC is an American private equity firm with offices in the United States, Europe, Brazil and Asia. It has been a private equity investor since 1966...
.
History
Private equityPrivate equity
Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....
firms Cinven
Cinven
Cinven is a British private equity firm founded in 1977 with offices in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Milan and Hong Kong. Currently, the company has raised four funds, with the last one signing up €6.5 billion...
and Warburg Pincus
Warburg Pincus
Warburg Pincus, LLC is an American private equity firm with offices in the United States, Europe, Brazil and Asia. It has been a private equity investor since 1966...
bought the three companies. In 2000 Multikabel was bought by Cinven
Cinven
Cinven is a British private equity firm founded in 1977 with offices in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Milan and Hong Kong. Currently, the company has raised four funds, with the last one signing up €6.5 billion...
; until then, the company had been mostly government-owned
Government-owned corporation
A government-owned corporation, state-owned company, state-owned entity, state enterprise, publicly owned corporation, government business enterprise, or parastatal is a legal entity created by a government to undertake commercial activities on behalf of an owner government...
. In 2005 the company was sold again to Warburg Pincus
Warburg Pincus
Warburg Pincus, LLC is an American private equity firm with offices in the United States, Europe, Brazil and Asia. It has been a private equity investor since 1966...
.
In 2010 the Ziggo cable network passed 4.123 million homes in the Netherlands.
Cable television
Ziggo offers analogAnalog television
Analog television is the analog transmission that involves the broadcasting of encoded analog audio and analog video signal: one in which the message conveyed by the broadcast signal is a function of deliberate variations in the amplitude and/or frequency of the signal...
and digital
Digital cable
Digital cable is a generic term for any type of cable television distribution using digital video compression or distribution. The technology was originally developed by Motorola.-Background:...
cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
to 3.100 million subscribers of which 1.732 million watch digital. In recent years the number of analogue channels has been reduced to make more bandwidth available for digital HD channels.
Analogue and digital
Basic service is called TV Standaard and includes both analogue and digital channels, consists of about 60 digital (including 12 HD) and 25 analogue television channels, as well as 60 digital radio channels. It consists of all the major Dutch networks and some of the main networks of neighbouring countries. Additional TV and radio channels are available through "TV Plus" and "TV Extra" packages. Every package comes with Music ChoiceMusic Choice Extra
Music Choice International is a European-based multilingual digital music pay television service owned by Stingray Digital.Music Choice was launched in 1993 and is available in 16 countries across Europe and Africa. Music Choice consists of several multilingual commercial-free audio-only linear...
and XLnt Radio which offer 35 additional radio channels, as well as interactive video on demand
Video on demand
Video on Demand or Audio and Video On Demand are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand...
services.
High-definition
Ziggo offers 12 HDHigh-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
channels, and include Discovery HD
Discovery HD
Discovery HD is the international name of the high-definition television channels from Discovery Communications.The international Discovery HD first launched in Korea on February 2005 as a programming block...
and NGC HD. Two come with the subscriptions of premium film and sport services Film1
Film1
Film1 is a Dutch premium television service owned by Chellomedia, the European content division of Liberty Global. Film1 launched together with its sister service Sport1 on February 1, 2006 and replaced the Canal+ Netherlands television channels...
and Sport1
Sport1
Sport1 is a Dutch premium television service owned by Chellomedia, the European content division of Liberty Global. Sport1 launched together with its sister service Film1 on February 1, 2006 and replaced the Canal+ Netherlands channels. At launch the service consisted of two main channels, six...
. The rest are part of basic service.
On 4 July 2009 the Dutch public broadcaster NPO started simulcast
Simulcast
Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
ing Nederland 1
Nederland 1
Nederland 1 is the first national television station in the Netherlands, it was launched on 2 October 1951. It provides public broadcasting and currently exists next to sister channels Nederland 2 and 3. The several broadcasting organisations of the Publieke Omroep deliver programmes. A wide...
, Nederland 2
Nederland 2
Nederland 2 is a Dutch television channel, one of three alongside Nederland 1 and Nederland 3. It was established in October 1964 and tends to broadcast sports, light entertainment, news and current affairs programming....
, and Nederland 3
Nederland 3
Nederland 3 is the third and youngest of the terrestrial television channels operated by the Dutch public-broadcasting organization NPO in the Netherlands and carries programs provided by member-based non-profit broadcasting associations. It is oriented towards children, youth and innovative...
in 1080i
1080i
1080i is the shorthand name for a high-definition television mode. The i means interlaced video; 1080i differs from 1080p, in which the p stands for progressive scan. The term 1080i assumes a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, implying a frame size of 1920×1080 pixels...
high-definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
. These public HD channels are part of basic service.
Most of the programming in the early stages consists of upscaled versions of their parent channels as in time more programs will become available in HD. Nederland 1 HD was temporarily available from June 1 until August, 2008 to bring Euro 2008, 2008 Tour de France
2008 Tour de France
The 2008 Tour de France was the 95th Tour de France. The event took place from 5–27 July 2008. Starting in the French city of Brest, the tour entered Italy on the 15th stage and returned to France during the 16th, heading for Paris, its regular final destination, which was reached in the 21st stage...
and the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
in HD, the rest of the time will be an upscaled version of its parent channel.
Technology
The digital television signal uses the DVB-CDVB-C
DVB-C stands for Digital Video Broadcasting - Cable and it is the DVB European consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital television over cable...
standard. Most standard-definition
Standard-definition television
Sorete-definition television is a television system that uses a resolution that is not considered to be either enhanced-definition television or high-definition television . The term is usually used in reference to digital television, in particular when broadcasting at the same resolution as...
channels are encoded in MPEG-2
MPEG-2
MPEG-2 is a standard for "the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information". It describes a combination of lossy video compression and lossy audio data compression methods which permit storage and transmission of movies using currently available storage media and transmission...
and most high-definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
channels in H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
H.264/MPEG-4 Part 10 or AVC is a standard for video compression, and is currently one of the most commonly used formats for the recording, compression, and distribution of high definition video...
. All channels are encrypted with Irdeto2 and require an activated smart card
Smart card
A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card , is any pocket-sized card with embedded integrated circuits. A smart card or microprocessor cards contain volatile memory and microprocessor components. The card is made of plastic, generally polyvinyl chloride, but sometimes acrylonitrile...
to be decrypted. Customers can buy a certified set-top box
Set-top box
A set-top box or set-top unit is an information appliance device that generally contains a tuner and connects to a television set and an external source of signal, turning the signal into content which is then displayed on the television screen or other display device.-History:Before the...
or Integrated Digital Television
Integrated Digital Television
An Integrated Digital Television set is a television set with a built in digital tuner, be it for DVB-T, DVB-S, DVB-C, DMB-T/H, ATSC or ISDB. Most of them also allow reception of analogue signals . They do away with the need for a set top box for converting those signals for reception on a...
with embedded Irdeto CA
Conditional access
Conditional Access is the protection of content by requiring certain criteria to be met before granting access to this content...
, which are sold by Ziggo and consumer electronic retailers. Additionally customers can buy any television with a DVB-C
DVB-C
DVB-C stands for Digital Video Broadcasting - Cable and it is the DVB European consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital television over cable...
tuner and CI+ support with a Ziggo compatible conditional access module
Conditional access module
A conditional access module is an electronic device, usually incorporating a slot for a smart card, which equips an Integrated Digital Television or set-top box with the appropriate hardware facility to view conditional access content that has been encrypted using a conditional access system...
.
Broadband Internet
Ziggo offers broadband Internet accessBroadband Internet access
Broadband Internet access, often shortened to just "broadband", is a high data rate, low-latency connection to the Internet— typically contrasted with dial-up access using a 56 kbit/s modem or satellite Internet with inherently high latency....
to 1.518 million subscribers in the following subscription forms:
| Subscription form | Download speed Bandwidth (computing) In computer networking and computer science, bandwidth, network bandwidth, data bandwidth, or digital bandwidth is a measure of available or consumed data communication resources expressed in bits/second or multiples of it .Note that in textbooks on wireless communications, modem data transmission,... |
Upload speed Bandwidth (computing) In computer networking and computer science, bandwidth, network bandwidth, data bandwidth, or digital bandwidth is a measure of available or consumed data communication resources expressed in bits/second or multiples of it .Note that in textbooks on wireless communications, modem data transmission,... |
|---|---|---|
| Internet Z1 | 5 Mbit/s | 0.5 Mbit/s |
| Internet Z2 | 30 Mbit/s | 3 Mbit/s |
| Internet Z3 | 50 Mbit/s | 5 Mbit/s |
| Alles-in-1 Basis | 10 Mbit/s | 1 Mbit/s |
| Alles-in-1 Plus | 40 Mbit/s | 4 Mbit/s |
| Alles-in-1 Extra | 120 Mbit/s | 10 Mbit/s |
With the introduction of EuroDOCSIS 3.0
DOCSIS
Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification is an international telecommunications standard that permits the addition of high-speed data transfer to an existing cable TV system...
across the broadband Internet network download speeds have been increased up to 120 Mbit/s except in area's where the network has not been adapted to the EuroDOCSIS 3.0 standard. The latest general speed increase was on 1 April 2011.
In the "test municipalities" of Amersfoort, Enschede, Heerhugowaard, Maastricht, Meppel, Tilburg, Utrecht (postcode 3500-3599), Den Haag (postcode 2500-2599) and Houten the download speed has been increased up to 120 Mbit/s as of 1 July 2010. In these test municipalities the Internet Z3 and Alles-in-1 Plus subscription forms offer higher download speeds than elsewhere.
Telephony
Ziggo has 1.117 million subscribers to their land-line telephone services. It also offers a virtual mobile phone service.Triple play
Ziggo has 1.045 million triple play subscribers. Of these subscribers 858,000 are subscribed to Alles-in-1 cable television, broadband internet and telephone service bundles.See also
- Digital television in the NetherlandsDigital television in the NetherlandsThe Netherlands now has three major forms of broadcast digital television. Terrestrial , Cable , and Satellite . In addition IPTV services are available...
- Internet in the NetherlandsInternet in the NetherlandsAccording to research done by the OECD the Netherlands is ranked with Switzerland in having the most broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, has no bandwidth caps and has the most homes passed in Europe in terms of connection speeds of 50 Mbps and higher....
- List of cable companies in the Netherlands
- Television in the Netherlands
- Ziggo Dome
External links
- ziggo.nl
- ziggo.com Corporate website Ziggo
- ziggo-gebruikers.nl Ziggo Gebruikers Forum