[Information] Google, Chunghwa Telecom Ink Deal on YouTube Broadcasting

[Information] Google, Chunghwa Telecom Ink Deal on YouTube Broadcasting (Chinese Version)

CNA – Focus Taiwan (2012/09/18) Google Inc.'s video website YouTube will soon be available on a digital television service offered by Chunghwa Telecom Co., the local company said September 18.

The content will be introduced under an agreement signed last month with Google to give the carrier access to YouTube's application programming interface (API) and authorized content, said Chunghwa, Taiwan's largest telecom operator.

Yi-fong CHANG, Vice President of Chunghwa Telecom's Northern Business Group, said subscribers to the company's multimedia-on-demand (MOD) service will be able to watch YouTube on their TVs from October on, through an upgraded user interface.

The number of subscribers to the MOD service, which was launched in 2005, exceeded 1 million last year, with revenue averaging NT$157 (US$5.35) per user, Chunghwa Telecom said.

Boasting high-definition sports broadcasting and films, the MOD service had 1.16 million subscribers as of August and the number is expected to rise to 1.3 million by the end of this year, according to Chunghwa Telecom.

Some 150,000 subscribers are using a new version of the MOD platform, on which the YouTube application will be installed, the company said.

The original MOD platform provides only content from Chunghwa Telecom but the second-generation service allows users to access content through either the carrier's closed network or the Internet.

Chunghwa Telecom plans to shift most of its MOD subscribers from the old platform to the new one, but it needs time to upgrade to the existing set-up boxes for digital signal transmission, Chang said.


Further Information:
CNA – Focus Taiwan 2012/09/18

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