PACE UNVEILS NONE TOO BASIC RECEIVER

The first fruits of Pace Micro Technology’s acquisition of French manufacturer Xcom were revealed at Mediacast in London last month, and the much-heralded ‘basic’ receiver turned out to be anything but.

The DTVA (Digital Television Adapter) is capable of handling up to three conditional access systems and a proprietary EPG. “Between Pace and Xcom we cover all of the conditional access systems existing today”, declared Xcom sales and marketing director Patrick Rabu.

The exact specification of the DTVA will depend on the nature of the market, with Xcom targeting areas where economic conditions dictate a more basic digital structure. Trials of the satellite version have already taken place in Taiwan and Hong Kong, while prototypes have been developed of both cable and DTT versions.

According to Rabu, “it’s a low-cost option that can help assist switchover in some of the economically weak countries”. He added that there would also be opportunities for operators who wished to segment their offer between high- and low-end customers.

“We would hope to be in a position to launch this onto the UK market sometime next year”, said Pace director of marketing Andrew Wallace.

In his view, a lot depended on market conditions and on what the UK government might do. Refusing to be drawn on the exact market price, he added “this costs a lot less to produce than a typical high-sec, highly functional and highly specified set-top”.