Freeview boxes must be approved in New Zealand

According to an article in the New Zealand Times a ruckus is brewing over who will be allowed to supply Freeview boxes and who will not.
Set-top box distributors are reported to be angry, saying that they are being excluded from an accreditation programme set up by the Freeview consortium which comprises of the companies that will implement free-to air digital TV.
Two or three set-top box manufacturers and local distributors are said to have been given 12 month of exclusivity in the supply of STB’s for the new service. However it looks like one of the major stumbling blocks for other STB suppliers is that these units must be able to use MHEG-5 middleware for interactive services before they can be considered for accreditation by Freeview. To read the full article click on the following source URL.
Source: New Zealand Herald
Item added: 1st August 2006.