BEIJING -- TANDBERG Television (OSE:TAT) today announced that its OpenStream® Digital Services platform has been selected by Oriental Cable Network (OCN) to support its first video on-demand (VOD) content deployment in Shanghai. Oriental Cable Network (OCN), formerly known as Shanghai Cable, operates the world's largest metropolitan cable television service that covers the entire area of Shanghai, delivering more than 61 channels to a subscriber base of over 4 million viewers.The contract is the first to be publicly announced for the TANDBERG OpenStream Digital Services Platform in Asia. It builds on the company's strong position in the North American cable VOD market, where OpenStream is the leading, open digital services platform, enabling cable operators to quickly and confidently offer on-demand services such as video on-demand.

"The introduction of on-demand television services is a critical next step in our mission to build China's most advanced digital entertainment offering. We have invested time and resources to ensure that we understand the VOD market and its different business model and are now ready to embark on one of China's most exciting digital media projects," says Mr. Hu Li Qi, Assistant General Manager of Oriental Cable Network. "We saw the scalability and cost problems that some US cable operators have faced with proprietary systems and decided that an open approach was essential. TANDBERG Television's OpenStream is the obvious choice for our broad deployment plans as the platform allows us to quickly leverage the latest technologies, while reducing integration complexity and enabling us to focus on offering innovative solutions to our digital customers."

As part of the contract TANDBERG Television will provide the back office software systems and also work with OCN's engineers to integrate technologies and devices from numerous third party vendors. The result will enable OCN to roll-out an open and scaleable system that will meet its on-demand needs today and grow with its future requirements.

"In a financial environment of increasing constraints on capital, it is imperative that new technologies are available at the lowest possible total cost of ownership. That is why we have developed our on-demand platform to utilize open architectures, without sacrificing performance, security or freedom of choice," says Graham Cradock, VP and General Manager of TANDBERG Television Asia Pacific. "We are delighted to be working with OCN on this milestone roll-out of open systems in China and look forward to a long and prosperous relationship."

Tandberg ASA (OSE: TAA)