UK's Inuk Networks is aiming to launch its Freewire TV as a residential service later this year, targeting the 6 million UK homes who cannot receive digital television by other means with IPTV, VoIP and high speed broadband services. Inuk will be using Tandberg Television's MPEG-4 AVC encoders and receivers for its Freewire TV service. Freewire TV currently offers free-to-air digital television channels to students in university halls who are able to access the high speed JANET broadband network, which connects all higher and further education establishments in the UK.

A number of Tandberg Television's IPTV solutions are being installed at Inuk's head-end in the Docklands area of London, including Tandberg Mediaplex-20 with MPEG-4 AVC encoders and transrating modules, and over 100 TT1220 professional receivers, which will be used to descramble satellite and other services. By utilizing Tandberg Television's encoding solutions Freewire TV is able to carry a significant number of high-quality channels without significant network loading. To minimize bandwidth consumption, while maximizing picture quality, content will be encoded into MPEG-4 AVC for secure delivery over closed-loop IP networks.

"When you deliver content via a multicast-enabled network such as JANET it is essential to maximize bandwidth-efficiency," says Marcus Liassides, CEO of Inuk Networks. "We chose Tandberg Television as our preferred supplier for Freewire TV, not only because they offered us the widest choice of MPEG-4 AVC, but crucially they allowed us to replicate the same broadcast quality experience that customers are used to receiving on digital terrestrial, satellite and cable platforms."