Cabot adds DVB-C capability to Aurora Pan-European DVB middleware stack

4th June, 2006 - Cabot Communications, the specialist digital TV software supplier, today announces it has added Digital Video Broadcasting-Cable (DVB-C) capability to Aurora, its pan-European DVB middleware stack for free-to-air digital terrestrial and satellite receivers. As a result, manufacturers of digital TV devices can now deploy a single middleware platform to support every traditional home Digital TV medium.

Extending the Aurora middleware stack to support the broadcast of digital television over cable opens up a significant market opportunity for Cabot. Germany is the largest television market in Europe, with approximately 38.5 million TV households. The country is also the largest Cable TV market, with around 57% of German television homes receive their signal via Cable (1) , compared to around 13% in the UK (2).

“There are various geographical, political and cultural factors that effect the roll-out of digital TV across Europe,” commented Darren Standing, Business Development Manager at Cabot Communications. “For example, Cable is often deployed in areas where there are high concentrations of potential customers to justify the investment in the infrastructure. However, in countries with dispersed, sparse populations other mediums are more suitable.”

“This highly heterogeneous European digital TV market makes it extremely difficult for
manufacturers to build common products across Europe, resulting in increased costs and smaller economies of scale. By offering a single, modular, pan-European middleware stack that supports DVB-T, DVB-S and now DVB-C reception, we can enable manufacturers to address the complex requirements of the diverse European TV market and expand their product ranges quickly and at low cost.”

(1) Screen Digest, Germany’s Television Prospects Report, 2005
(2) OFCOM, The Full Communications Market Report, 2005

ENDS

About Cabot Communications – www.cabot.co.uk
Founded in 1993, Cabot Communications was one of the forerunners of the digital TV revolution. Working in partnership with early innovators such as SES-ASTRA, Telewest and the BBC, Cabot helped to develop some of the industry's pioneering solutions for interactive services, content creation and delivery. Cabot was one of the earliest contributors to the MHEG-5 UK interactive TV standard, and was responsible for the first public demonstration of an MHEG-5 engine on a real set-top box in 1998. Since then the company has developed an exclusive focus on standards-based software technologies, creating new possibilities for manufacturers looking for an early market advantage through innovative products.

Aurora, Cabot’s Digital TV Software Suite represents Europe's only complete, modular out of the box system to meet the differing digital TV and interactive requirements across Europe, thus allowing manufacturers to quickly develop cost effective products on a single modular software platform for the pan-European market. Aurora is fully scalable, enabling manufacturers to build low-cost, functional receivers, through to high-end fully featured receivers supporting interactivity and Digital Video Recorder (DVR) functions.

For further information please contact:

Sharon Porton, Cabot Communications
+44 (0)117 958 4232; Sharon.Porton@cabot.co.uk

Louise Andrews, Wildfire PR
+44 (0)20 8339 4420; Louisea@wildfirepr.co.uk