Hamburg/Cologne, May 3, 2011: German TV viewers will be able to access international programmes via hybrid, HbbTV-compliant devices: On occasion of this year’s industry show ANGA Cable in Cologne, Hamburg-based companies teveo interactive GmbH and Mediapool Content Services jointly announce their co-operation, leading to the launch of the first HbbTV-based platform for international TV-content. On Tuesday, May 3rd both companies will present the groundbreaking HbbTV-based content platform "International TV" at TEVEO’s ANGA Cable booth (Hall 10.1, booth S40). International TV is to use the authorisation and payment system TV-ID, developed by TEVEO. Within the framework of the partnership, TEVEO and Mediapool will also co-operate in marketing the new service to TV device manufacturers as well as to end consumers.

To this day, foreign language programmes are mainly available in Germany as part of premium content packages, distributed and marketed by the leading platform operators. However, the rapidly increasing popularity of hybrid HbbTV-compliant TV sets opens up new opportunities for broadcasters and content owners in Germany: International TV allows them to reach special interest groups and smaller audiences that could not be addressed before by traditional mass market broadcast distribution. Mediapool, supported by TEVEO, provides attractive content offerings within their new portal International TV, thus adding significant value to HbbTV-compliant devices.

Dr. Ralf Heublein, Mediapool's Managing Director commented: "We are delighted to announce our partnership with TEVEO, a leading innovator in HbbTV-based technologies." TEVEO's Managing Director Andreas Karanas added: "Our co-operation for International TV illustrates, how our technology solutions – such as TV-ID – can unchain content owners from many restrictions of their business models as we still see them on traditional distribution platforms today."

TEVEO's authorisation and payment technology TV-ID is a key element to the new International TV platform: TV viewers will be able to access a rich international TV offering by simply entering a four-key PIN code.

THE COMPANIES

TEVEO
teveo interactive GmbH provides services to the interactive television market. The company offers innovative solutions for the interface between broadcasters and television viewers. With its current service TV-ID TEVEO is the first provider to have a system that enables viewers to register and be billed for paid content from the broadcaster’s internet services. TEVEO is a member of the European HbbTV initiative, a consortium of leading companies in the European television industry. The company is headquartered in Hamburg. www.teveo.de