UPC today unveiled its Horizon TV set-top box, a digital home hub that delivers a next-generation triple play TV, broadband and phone experience and which could play a disruptive role in how TV services and broadband are consumed in Ireland today.
The set-top box has already been launched in Switzerland and the Netherlands. The new set-top box will come with an introductory price of €50 per month with up to 100Mbps broadband, telephone and 19 HD channels as standard.
The new set-top box comes with a new range of apps, beginning with 27 apps, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Score.ie, Google Maps, Picasa and The Irish Times. Some of the apps, in particular the YouTube app, can perform contextual searches based on the live TV programme the viewer is watching.
The Horizon set-top box can store up to 320 hours of content and is capable of learning a user’s viewing habits, responding with suggested content.
We caught up with the new CEO Magnus Ternsjö to ask him what impact the device could have on the TV market. He describes the arrival of the box as a “defining moment in Irish TV.”
We also asked UPC sales and marketing president Mark Coan to take us on a tour of how the device works and to show how UPC’s TV services are about to be changed forever.
