Cable operator Liberty Global has unveiled its new Horizon hybrid set-top box at the IBC trade show in Amsterdam. Already in tests with customers at its unit UPC Netherlands, the box is expected to launch commercially in the first quarter of 2012 in the Netherlands, followed soon after by UPC Cablecom in Switzerland and Unitymedia in Germany. This is slightly later than the company's last announcement in early August, when it said the box should be in the Dutch market by Q4 this year. The Horizon brings together traditional broadcast TV, online content and personal data, allowing users to search through all their content and connect wirelessly to other devices in the home to access stored media on the TV. The user interface with 3D graphics provides search and recommendation engines to find content. The box also will support the transfer of TV content to 'second screens' in and outside the home, such as PCs, tablets and smartphones. Liberty said it will soon release a software development kit for the box, to encourage the development of applications to support additional services. It is in talks with local and international content and app providers, such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, and said 60 apps have already been developed for the Horizon platform. The box is built by Samsung and includes an Intel Atom CE media processor, NDS software for the middleware and user experience, and the Nagra conditional access system, supporting MoCA, Wi-Fi and DLNA. The 'TV everywhere' experience, for sending content to other devices, is supported by Ioko's enterprise service platform and thePlatform's video content management system.
