TelstraClear TV going digital

Australian-owned carrier TelstraClear expects to launch a digital television service in Wellington and Christchurch next year.

TelstraClear head of consumer sales Steve Jackson said digital television offered much higher picture quality, stereo sound, interactivity and more channels.

The subscription price for the digital cable TV would rise, but he said no decision had been made on how much.

TelstraClear was upgrading its cable network in Wellington and Christchurch to offer digital television. Cable television was now received through analogue transmission, Jackson said.

The only other digital television service in New Zealand is Sky TV.

The upgrade would cost about $1.5 million, but the bigger cost would be in swapping over the set-top boxes in customers' homes. That cost would be "in the millions".

TelstraClear was still deciding what set-top box technology to use.

It had about 25,000 television customers in Wellington and 15,000 in Christchurch, most signed up by Saturn in Wellington and TelstraSaturn in Christchurch.

Jackson said TelstraClear had invested $1.5 billion in telecommunications networks in New Zealand.

- NZPA