Gigared selects Appear to deliver high-definition TV across Argentina

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Appear provides Gigared with converged DVB-C and ISDB-T modulators, enabling seamless migration of Pay-TV subscribers from analog to HD DTV services

Overview

Leading Argentinian telecoms operator Gigared has chosen Appear to help expand its footprint, and deliver high-definition (HD) content to more subscribers across the country.

Gigared offers pay-TV, internet and telephony services to consumers and enterprises across Argentina, and was looking to increase the number of HD signals it supports for its pay-TV service—all without requiring subscribers to use a set-top-box (STB). Appear’s technology is enabling Gigared to meet its ambitions of expansion, and deliver more HD content to more subscribers.

Challenge

Today in Latin America, a significant number of subscribers are still to transition from terrestrial to digital cable TV. This will provide them with access to more content, in the very best quality possible (HD), all at the click of a button. Cable operators face the challenge of not losing those subscribers during the transition, especially because of the additional cost of physically installing a set top box (STB) to get access to digital services.

But delivering HD content to subscribers without STBs is a technical challenge. Firstly, Gigared would need to migrate its existing subscribers from analogue to digital television services. Secondly, it would need a technology partner whose solutions would be interoperable and robust enough to deal with any implementation of the ISDB-T standard in subscribers’ TV sets. Only then would it be able to realise its ambitions and expand its footprint across the country.

To address this challenge, and in its position as a cable TV provider, Gigared would benefit from having a headend that could combine DVB-C with ISDB-T modulation in a convergent platform.

Solution

Gigared has deployed Appear’s X and XC Platforms to deliver HD content to subscribers across Argentina. It has deployed Appear’s X20 as a MUX and XC5000 ISDB-T modulator at its central headend, as well as at two remote locations.

With Appear’s technology, Gigared is able to receive feeds coming from any source and modulate them on ISDB-T for consumption into a cable network without resorting to the use of dedicated STBs, enabling subscribers to seamlessly consume digital, HD content.

Why Appear

Gigared selected Appear’s technology because of its large interoperability with ISDB-T for cable.

Another factor was that Appear’s technology had an ISDB-T modulator card compatible with the chassis Gigared had in production.

“As we looked to migrate our subscribers to digital TV services, we knew we had a challenge on our hands when it came to interoperability. We didn’t want our customers to have to set-up and install STBs—we wanted to provide a seamless customer experience. But it can be tricky to find the right support for ISDB-T International implementations on cable as many TV sets on the market are simply not compatible.

We selected Appear to support us as they are a technology partner that we could trust to simplify the upgrade to HD services. Not only do Appear’s solutions ensure we can deliver the high-quality TV experience our subscribers expect direct to their TVs, but with little downtime and high-quality performance, we knew that we could deployed Appear’s technology at our remote locations, that they would simply work.” Juan Ramon Garcia Bish, New Technologies Manager at Gigared.

Results

Thanks to the deployment of Appear’s technology, Gigared has been able to transition its subscribers to digital TV services. In addition, Appear’s technology has helped Gigared with its geographical expansion, where Gigared is steadily expanding to neighboring cities.

Next steps

Gigared is committed to expanding its triple play offering, and Appear will continue to be a trusted technology partner for the operator as it aims to gain a larger footprint across Argentina.