Belgacom launches TV app store

Belgacom TV has launched a series of TV apps giving access to its own and third-party services. The service will be available to Belgacom TV subscribers with the latest generation of decoder.

Kids publisher Chocolapps has created four interactive children’s books that will be available free of charge on the platform – The Three Little Pigs, Snow White, Peter Pan and The Jungle Book. The app has a video mode and an accompanying reading mode. Each story is available in Dutch, English, French,and German.

Belgacom has also launched the Belgacom 11 app for football fans, with statistics on major Belgian and European football clubs and championships including the Spanish and Portuguese leagues, the UEFA Champions League, the Jupiler Pro League and the Belgacom League, and a football chat app, linked to the Belgacom 11 and 11 Plus football channels, which allows users to display on their TV screen – superimposed on the match images – chat conversations from the websites of La Dernière Heure, Het Nieuwsblad and Skynet.

Other apps on the platform include basketball app Belgacom 5, which gives access to statistics on clubs in the Belgian division one basketball league, a TV Maps app that allows users to search and display any location in the world on their TV screen.

The applications will be available on PC tablet and smartphone as well as TV.

“Belgacom’s content strategy is to make the TV offer evolve towards a richer, more comprehensive viewing experience based on entertainment on all screens. With the launch of this ‘applications store’, Belgacom provides a clear example of convergence by integrating TV with the world of applications, which until now was reserved to the Internet and smartphones. Moreover, we are proud to offer a so-called edutainment app – Chocolapps – which contributes to child development,” said Bruno Chauvat, executive vice-president, strategy and content.