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Smart TV Tuesday: Picture Box movies coming to Freeview & Freesat

On-demand film channel Picture Box is testing ahead of a launch on Freesat HD and Freeview HD.

The channel is already testing on Humax Foxsat-HD and HDR Freesat HD boxes, where it can be found on channel 907.

It will eventually be able to launch on Freesat HD and Freeview HD receivers capable of running ITV Player over a broadband connection.

Picture Box on Freesat HD

Picture Box hosts a variety of Universal Pictures films available to subscribers paying £5/month with an account set up online at www.picturebox.tv.

The application was developed by TV technology firm S&T, who showed off a demonstration at the recent Digital TV Group 2012 Forum for the broadcast technology industry.

S&T business development manager, Mike Alexander, said: “It’s currently only available on Humax set-top boxes because they are the only ones fully compliant with the specification for inserting commercials smoothly into video streams.

“There’s a similar process going on with Freeview HD products to make sure of their conformance to the standard.

“Freeview HD is now a huge install base of products which content owners can use to target interactive TV.”

ITV Player on Freesat required the ability to insert commercials, which was included in the standard for interactive applications, but wasn’t required for the BBC iPlayer, so very Freesat HD product has to be checked to ensure it works.

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