 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founded | 1998; 27 years ago (1998) |
| Defunct | 2015 (2015) |
| Successor | Ziggo |
| Headquarters | , Netherlands |
Area served | Parts of: Flevoland Friesland Gelderland North Brabant North Holland South Holland |
| Products | Cable television Broadband Internet Telephony |
| Parent | Liberty Global |
| Website | upc.nl |
UPC Nederland (English:UPC Netherlands) was the second largest cable operator in theNetherlands, providingcable television (digital and analogue), broadbandInternet, andtelephone service to both residential and commercial customers.
In early 2015, UPC Nederland started merging withZiggo. The nameUPC was finally phased out in favor ofZiggo on 13 April 2015.
UPC Nederland was formed in 1995 as a joint venture between thePhilips Electronics andUnited International Holdings, aUnited 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 theAmsterdamA2000 network, joining later.
Some of the larger cable companies bought by UPC were:A2000 (Amsterdam and surrounding regions),Telekabel (Gelderland,Brabant, andFriesland),Gelrevision (Northern part of theVeluwe, South-eastFlevoland and EastGelderland),[3]Eneco K&T (Rotterdam and surrounding regions),[4]Combivisie (Brabant)[5] and several smaller and mid-sized networks.
UPC Nederland ownedpremium television serviceCineNova in a joint venture withBuena Vista International Television andSony Pictures Entertainment between 2000 and 2005.[6][7]
On 27 January 2014Liberty Global announced that it would acquireZiggo.[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]
UPC Nederland offeredanalogue anddigitalcable television,broadband Internet access, andvoice over IPtelephone services.
UPC Nederland provided about 200television channels including about 51 inHD[11] and also more than 100 radio channels,[12]DVR service,video-on-demand content, catch-up TV frompublic television broadcasters and commercial television stations andinteractive television using theDVB-C specification.[13] UPC did use theNagravisionconditional access system. Nevertheless, about 40 TV channels and also 40 radio channels were transmitted in clear (unencrypted).[14]
The new high-endset-top box called Horizon got its first release in theNetherlands on 7 September 2012. It incorporates television, internet and telephone services in one device. It has sixtuners, amodem and arouter on board.[15]
There were about 30 analoguetelevision channels and about 40 analogue radio channels available.[16]
UPC Nederland was in 2008 the first cable company in Europe to be using the newEuroDOCSIS 3.0 cable standard. This new standard made it possible to achieve speeds comparable to fiber, up to 120 Mbit/s. As of July 2014[update], 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]