TivùSat: DSO drives 1.5m smart cards
July 10, 2012
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
Italian DTH platform TivùSat has achieved the figure of 1.52 million active smart cards in early July, just a few days after the completion of the analogue switch-off in Italy.
In recent weeks there has been a sharp increase in smart card activations, surpassing the peak of 3,000 smart cards daily. As a result, currently 5.2 per cent of Italian families now receive TV channels via TivùSat.
One year after reaching the threshold of one million active smart cards (July 2011), this year has seen a much higher than expected growth rate.
TivùSat, launched on 31 July 2009 by Rai, Mediaset, Telecom Italia Media and Italian local broadcasters, currently airs 61 TV channels and 43 radio stations.
In addition, the DTH operator announced the start of a trial with 200 families of TivùOn!, providing access to a library of contents and catch-up TV. TivùSat has already signed an agreement with Intertrust to use its DRM Marlin as a management system for content rights.
The test will be completed in December, in time for an official launch on Connected TVs for Christmas 2013 and, more importantly, for the 2014 World Cup.