Ericsson and Finland-based cable operator DNA have jointly announced a deal to bring HDTV experience to 1.5 million Finnish homes by 2011. According to the deal Ericsson (News - Alert) will provide the terrestrial HDTV network so that 60 percent of the Finnish households within the aerial network will have access to HDTV services at the end of 2011.

Ericsson is the prime contractor, providing network roll-out and systems integration services as well as maintenance and support services.

Ericsson will also be providing technology solutions such as Ericsson Video Processor (News - Alert) Chassis, Ericsson TV portfolio, including the MPEG-4 AVC HD head-end solution, along with third party products and technology for DVB-T2 HDTV broadcasting.

The Ericsson Video Processor Chassis is a high density, multi-functional, video processing platform and is designed for the evolving requirements of today’s broadcasters. It supports a comprehensive range of video processing options, including SD MPEG-2 and HD MPEG-4 AVC encoding on hot swappable option modules. The platform’s modular design allows service providers to upgrade functionality and add new services incrementally, avoiding costly headend upgrades. The Video Processor Chassis is part of Ericsson’s portfolio of products including receivers, decoders, and descramblers all seamlessly integrated into a complete headend system with nCompass Control by Ericsson.

The MPEG-4 AVC HD encoder provides MPEG-4 AVC HD compression using new technology, designed from the ground up. In combination with DVB-S2 satellite modulation and Ericsson’s PREKOR dynamic pre-correction system, which enables operators to gain maximum performance from a satellite transponder, this product enables the most HDTV channels per transponder in the industry.

Charlotta Sund, head of Ericsson has said that just last year, about 35 000 - or 1.4 percent - of Finnish households ordered HD channels. Considering that 1.4 percent will grow to 60 percent within a two year period which is great growth potential of the HDTV market. That's why they've invested so much in TV-related technology and services.

Pekka Väisänen, Vice president of Consumer Business at DNA added that in a recent survey they have found that an impressive majority of the Finnish population, 69 percent, want to watch movies in high definition and in the age group 15-19 the number is even higher; 89 percent. There's no doubt that HDTV will be the future.