UPC Netherlands

UPC Nederland (English: UPC Netherlands) was the second largest cable operator in the Netherlands, providing cable television (digital and analogue), broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers.

UPC Nederland B.V.
TypeBesloten Vennootschap
IndustryTelecommunications
SuccessorZiggo
Founded1998
Defunct2015
Headquarters
Amsterdam
,
Netherlands
Area served
Parts of:
Flevoland
Friesland
Gelderland
North Brabant
North Holland
South Holland
ProductsCable television
Broadband Internet
Telephony
ParentLiberty Global
Websiteupc.nl

In early 2015, UPC Nederland started merging with Ziggo. The name UPC was finally phased out in favor of Ziggo on 13 April 2015.

History

UPC Nederland was formed in 1995 as a joint venture between the Philips Electronics and United International Holdings, a United States-owned media company, setting off on a path of quick acquisition of the Netherlands' then mostly regional TV cable operators, many of whom were already partially owned by Philips.[1] The South-Eastern and Eastern cable networks were unified under the UPC name in 1998,[2] with other networks, the largest being the Amsterdam A2000 network, joining later.

Some of the larger cable companies bought by UPC were: A2000 (Amsterdam and surrounding regions), Telekabel (Gelderland, Brabant, and Friesland), Gelrevision (Northern part of the Veluwe, South-east Flevoland and East Gelderland),[3] Eneco K&T (Rotterdam and surrounding regions),[4] Combivisie (Brabant)[5] and several smaller and mid-sized networks.

UPC Nederland owned premium television service CineNova in a joint venture with Buena Vista International Television and Sony Pictures Entertainment between 2000 and 2005.[6][7]

On 27 January 2014 Liberty Global announced that it would acquire Ziggo.[8] In December 2014 the shares of Ziggo N.V. were delisted from Euronext Amsterdam as Ziggo was converted into the Dutch private limited company Ziggo Holding B.V. (Besloten Vennootschap), owned by Liberty Global.[9] On 5 January 2015 Ziggo started to harmonize its cable network with the UPC Nederland cable network. The name UPC was finally phased out in favor of Ziggo on 13 April 2015.[10]

Services

UPC Nederland offered analogue and digital cable television, broadband Internet access, and voice over IP telephone services.

Cable television
A Pace set-top box with a UPC smart card and remote, used by UPC Nederland.

Digital television

UPC Nederland provided about 200 television channels including about 51 in HD[11] and also more than 100 radio channels,[12] DVR service, video-on-demand content, catch-up TV from public television broadcasters and commercial television stations and interactive television using the DVB-C specification.[13] UPC did use the Nagravision conditional access system. Nevertheless, about 40 TV channels and also 40 radio channels were transmitted in clear (unencrypted).[14]

The new high-end set-top box called Horizon got its first release in the Netherlands on 7 September 2012. It incorporates television, internet and telephone services in one device. It has six tuners, a modem and a router on board.[15]

Analogue television

There were about 30 analogue television channels and about 40 analogue radio channels available.[16]

Internet

UPC Nederland was in 2008 the first cable company in Europe to be using the new EuroDOCSIS 3.0 cable standard. This new standard made it possible to achieve speeds comparable to fiber, up to 120 Mb/s. As of July 2014, UPC offered the following subscription forms:[17]

Name Download speed Upload speed Monthly cost
50 Mbit/s Internet 50 Mbit/s 5 Mbit/s N/A
120 Mbit/s Internet 120 Mbit/s 12 Mbit/s N/A
200 Mbit/s Internet 200 Mbit/s 20 Mbit/s N/A

Internet subscriptions included a Basic Cable TV and Radio (both analog and digital) subscription.[18]

See also

References
  1. "Company History: United Pan-Europe Communications NV". International Directory of Company Histories. The Gale Group. 2006. Retrieved April 15, 2010.
  2. "UPC and Nuon Create Largest Dutch Cable Company: United TeleKabel Holding" (Press release). United International Holding, Inc. 13 November 1997. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
  3. Femme Taken (September 7, 1999). "A2000 / Telekabel / Gelrevision = Chello" (in Dutch). Tweakers.net.
  4. Stéphane Alonso and Jochen van Barschot (January 15, 2000). "UPC verslindt alles" (in Dutch). Trouw.
  5. "Telekabel/UPC lijft ook Combivisie in" (in Dutch). Trouw. December 18, 1997.
  6. "CineNova sinds 1 december via Casema Digitale Televisie". EntertainmentBusiness.nl (in Dutch). 5 December 2000. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  7. "Cinenova stopt distributie via digitale kabel". DigitaleKabelTelevisie.nl (in Dutch). 15 May 2005. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  8. "Liberty Global to Acquire Ziggo Strategic combination creates national Dutch cable operator" (PDF). Ziggo.com. 2014-01-26. Retrieved 2014-01-26.
  9. "Liberty Global zet volgende stap met Ziggo". TotaalTV. 2014-12-20. Retrieved 2015-02-05.
  10. "UPC en Ziggo nu samen als Ziggo verder". TotaalTV.nl. 2015-04-13.
  11. UPC. "TV-zenderoverzicht" (in Dutch). UPC. Retrieved April 29, 2014.
  12. UPC (August 31, 2012). "UPC voegt veel televisie- en radiozenders toe aan digitaal aanbod" (in Dutch). UPC.
  13. UPC (October 9, 2013). "Digitale ontvanger voor DVB-C". UPC.
  14. UPC (March 27, 2013). "Alle klanten van UPC krijgen standaard digitale TV" (in Dutch). UPC.
  15. Robert Briel (September 7, 2012). "UPC launches Horizon in Holland". Broadband TV News.
  16. UPC (September 9, 2012). "Kabel TV en Radio" (in Dutch). UPC.
  17. UPC (October 9, 2013). "Razendsnel en draadloos internetten - Internet - UPC Nederland". UPC.
  18. "Je aanbieder voor Televisie, Internet en Bellen - Altijd verbonden - Ziggo". upc.nl (in Dutch). October 23, 2013.
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