UPC Switzerland

History

In the 1930s the first cable network operators started to broadcast a variety of radio channels to households via cable. One of these cable network operators was Rediffusion S.A., established in 1931, which disseminated radio programmes per wire broadcasting. At the end of the 1950s Rediffusion began to broadcast the first black/white television channels from the Üetliberg antenna tower in Zürich. In 1994 Rediffusion and other independent cable network companies merged to form Cablecom, owned by Siemens, VEBA and Swisscom.

Cablecom acquired the successful Internet service provider SwissOnline in 1998. Over the following years the cable network operator grew by acquiring various cable network companies including, for instance Balcab and Sitel. These takeovers allowed cablecom to extend its network throughout Switzerland. In 2000 the previous owners of Cablecom sold out to the British-American NTL for a price of 5.8 billion Swiss francs. In the years that followed, operative business was sustainably improved. In the wake of financial difficulties NTL sold Cablecom to a group of banks and private investors in 2003.

The owners planned to go public with Cablecom in the middle of October 2005. After Liberty Global Europe, a wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty Global acquired Cablecom for 2.8 billion on 30 September 2005, the planned IPO was withdrawn. In the years that followed Cablecom invested in its network development. In 2007 the company launched high definition television (HDTV). Two years later cablecom introduced its first combination deals (all-in-one packages with Internet, telephony and television).

In 2010 Cablecom launched the DigiCard enabling customers to enjoy digital TV without having to connect an additional device to their Television set. Cablecom began offering Video on Demand with HD and 3D content in early 2011.

Cablecom was relaunched as upc cablecom in April 2011 with the slogan “More Power, More Joy”. With the upc cablecom brand the company wishes to be perceived on the market as a subsidiary of Liberty Global while retaining its legacy as part of Swiss telecommunications history. In the course of rebranding the red wrench was replaced by a new logo. In June upc cablecom signed an agreement with Orange to keep an option open of offering customers mobile telephony products in the future.

At the beginning of 2013 the entertainment platform Horizon was launched onto the Swiss market. Manufactured by Samsung Electronics, the platform is based on an Intel Atom CE CPU, operating six tuners and a cable modem, allowing customers to record up to four channels simultaneously and combining TV, Internet and fixed-line telephony in one single set-top box.

Since 25 May 2016, UPC Cablecom has been called UPC

Services

Analog cable TV & Radio

Digital cable TV & Radio

Internet

Telephony

Packages & Prices

UPC operates three separate main grids for the German speaking region (Deutschschweiz), the French speaking region (Romandie) and the Italian speaking region (Svizzera italiana) of Switzerland, based on the main spoken language of the served communities. Therefore, the available television and radio channels differ between the three grids.

UPC basic packages

UPC TV Mini

consists of approximately 55 television channels, including 21 high-definition simulcast channels. The channels differ between the three regional grids, with a focus on carrying channels in the region's main language. The Deutschschweiz grid contains furthermore 9 Swiss German regional television channels (EPG No. 17–24), of which only one or two are available per region (subgrid).

UPC TV Classic

consists of the Mini package and contains an additional 60 standard-definition television channels, and three more HD channels (two simulcasts & one HD-exclusive). This package is since mid-2009 the successor of the former UPC digital tv basic package, which was free to all customers with a UPC mediabox.

UPC TV Comfort

consists of the Classic package and contains additional 50 premium television channels, including 13 HD channels (seven simulcasts & six HD-exclusive). This package is since mid-2009 the successor of the former UPC collection & HD package.

UPC option packages

UPC erotic

consists of adult subscription channels. The package has the same content in all three grids.

UPC options

single option packages in different languages. The packages (if available) have the same content in all three grids. Parts of the UPC español option make part of the basic offerings in the Romandie grid and most of the UPC Italia option makes part of the basic offerings in the Ticino grid.

Third party offerings

Teleclub

Swiss subscription television service provider for the German speaking region, also available through non-UPC cable television grids, satellite (in cooperation with Germany's Sky and Swisscom TV is available as basic package, with three additional optional packages. The option packages Movie and Family contain some non-exclusive channels, also available through the UPC collection packages.

Canal+

French subscription television service provider, also available in the French speaking region of Switzerland. Canal+ is available as basic package, with one additional optional package (HDTV channel).

Cine+

French subscription television service provider, also available in the French speaking region of Switzerland.

Former UPC packages

In June 2010 UPC introduced new hardware and restructured the basic programm packages, leaving the former packages in place for all existing customers with bought hardware, or rented hardware but unwilling to change packages. The change introduced the DigiCard (conditional-access module (CAM) using CI+), selling for CHF 99, and the mediabox receiver HD for CHF 4 per month, discontinuing the mediabox receiver (not HD compliant) selling for CHF 150, or rented for CHF 6 per month.

The lowered hardware prices for new (or changing) customers were compensated by cutting the free-of-charge digital tv basic package (over 110 TV channels) in half, into a free-of-charge Mini package (over 50 TV channels) and a chargeable Classic package, containing more than 60 additional TV channels. Also the former five thematic collection packages, and the HD package were folded into the new Comfort package, and aren't sold individually anymore. Customers opting to keep their existing packages are unaffected by the changes, and get the digital tv basic (now Classic) free-of-charge, and the individual collection packages as following described.

UPC digital TV basic

consists of approximately 100 television channels free to all customers. The channels differ between the three regional grids, with a focus on carrying channels in the region's main language. The Deutschschweiz grid contains furthermore 9 Swiss German regional television channels (EPG No. 17–24), of which only one or two are available per region (subgrid).

UPC collection

consists of five thematic channel packages, which can be subscribed as single package (CHF 7.50 per month). The complete collection of all five packages is available for CHF 15.00 per month. In the UPC collection the channels once again differ between the three regional grids, with focus on the region's main language.

UPC HD

consists of additional HDTV channels, not included in the basic package. The package is available single (CHF 7.50 per month) or as part of the UPC collection & HD for CHF 20.00 per month.

On Demand services

On Demand services are available through the Mediaboxes (Receiver or Recorder) exclusively.

Video on Demand (VOD)

the VOD content consists of newer movies, most of them being Hollywood productions and occasional Swiss movies, a few concerts, a limited amount of high-definition offerings, and adult films. The main features are charged on a pay-per-view basis granting unlimited access for the following 24 hours; occasional Trailers are free of charge.

TV on Demand

content produced by Schweizer Fernsehen (SF) is available on demand for seven days after broadcast through the SF Video Portal. The offering consisty almost exclusively of news, weather and magazines, and is available free of charge. For a limited evaluation period Viacom offered a MTV and a Nickelodeon channel providing all episodes of a single season of four of their owned series per channel. While the first episode of each series was available for free, the following episodes were charged two francs per episode.

Analog TV & Radio

The cable network carries at least 36 analog television and 34 analog radio channels depending on the region. In the Federal Act on Radio and Television the Federal Council prescribed a Must-Carry list for analog channels. This includes analog channels stipulated by the Federal Council that must be broadcast nationwide by UPC and other cable television providers. Aside from the seven SRG channels, this list includes the principal public-service channels of the neighbouring countries: ARD, ORF1, Rai Uno and France 2, as well as Arte, 3sat, TV5 Monde and Euronews in the language of the respective coverage area.

Internet

UPC offers broadband Internet over its cable network. In this sector the company serves over 759'900 customers (valid on 31 December 2015). The cable network consists of 95% Optical Fibre Cable and of 5% Coaxial Cable, known as Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC). The Internet service is run on the DOCSIS 3.0 standard.