verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . april 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message upc switzerland 1 type llc industry telecommunications founded 1994 headquarters z rich switzerland area served switzerland & vorarlberg austria key people eric tveter managing director mark reid cfo products analog cable & digital cable cable television cable radio cable internet cable telephony revenue 1.34 billion chf 2015 2 number of employees approx . 1 500 2012 2 parent liberty global europe upc switzerland llc website upc.ch upc switzerland llc trading exclusively under the brand name upc is the largest broadband cable operator in switzerland . founded 1994 through multiple mergers between smaller companies it is part of liberty global europe s upc broadband division since the end of 2005 . upc operates in switzerland including the cities of zurich geneva basel berne lausanne lucerne and winterthur and vorarlberg austria serving 1.3 million cable television customers as well as approximately 250 smaller broadband cable operators . contents 1 history 2 services 3 digital tv & radio 3.1 packages & prices 3.1.1 upc basic packages 3.1.2 upc option packages 3.1.3 third party offerings 3.2 former upc packages 3.3 on demand services 4 analog tv & radio 5 internet 6 references 7 external links history edit in the 1930s the first cable network operators started to broadcast a variety of radio channels to households via cable . one of these cable network operators was rediffusion s.a. established in 1931 which disseminated radio programmes per wire broadcasting . at the end of the 1950s rediffusion began to broadcast the first black white television channels from the etliberg antenna tower in z rich . in 1994 rediffusion and other independent cable network companies merged to form cablecom owned by siemens veba and swisscom . cablecom acquired the successful internet service provider swissonline in 1998 . over the following years the cable network operator grew by acquiring various cable network companies including for instance balcab and sitel . these takeovers allowed cablecom to extend its network throughout switzerland . in 2000 the previous owners of cablecom sold out to the british american ntl for a price of 5.8 billion swiss francs . in the years that followed operative business was sustainably improved . in the wake of financial difficulties ntl sold cablecom to a group of banks and private investors in 2003 . the owners planned to go public with cablecom in the middle of october 2005 . after liberty global europe a wholly owned subsidiary of liberty global acquired cablecom for 2.8 billion on 30 september 2005 the planned ipo was withdrawn . in the years that followed cablecom invested in its network development . in 2007 the company launched high definition television hdtv . two years later cablecom introduced its first combination deals all in one packages with internet telephony and television . in 2010 cablecom launched the digicard enabling customers to enjoy digital tv without having to connect an additional device to their television set . cablecom began offering video on demand with hd and 3d content in early 2011 . cablecom was relaunched as upc cablecom in april 2011 with the slogan more power more joy . with the upc cablecom brand the company wishes to be perceived on the market as a subsidiary of liberty global while retaining its legacy as part of swiss telecommunications history . in the course of rebranding the red wrench was replaced by a new logo . 3 in june upc cablecom signed an agreement with orange to keep an option open of offering customers mobile telephony products in the future . at the beginning of 2013 the entertainment platform horizon was launched onto the swiss market . manufactured by samsung electronics the platform is based on an intel atom ce cpu operating six tuners and a cable modem allowing customers to record up to four channels simultaneously and combining tv internet and fixed line telephony in one single set top box . since 25 may 2016 upc cablecom has been called upc services edit analog cable tv & radio digital cable tv & radio internet telephony digital tv & radio edit packages & prices edit upc operates three separate main grids for the german speaking region deutschschweiz the french speaking region romandie and the italian speaking region svizzera italiana of switzerland based on the main spoken language of the served communities . therefore the available television and radio channels differ between the three grids . upc basic packages edit upc tv mini consists of approximately 55 television channels including 21 high definition simulcast channels . the channels differ between the three regional grids with a focus on carrying channels in the region s main language . the deutschschweiz grid contains furthermore 9 swiss german regional television channels epg no. 17 24 of which only one or two are available per region subgrid . upc tv classic consists of the mini package and contains an additional 60 standard definition television channels and three more hd channels two simulcasts & one hd exclusive . this package is since mid 2009 the successor of the former upc digital tv basic package which was free to all customers with a upc mediabox . upc tv comfort consists of the classic package and contains additional 50 premium television channels including 13 hd channels seven simulcasts & six hd exclusive . this package is since mid 2009 the successor of the former upc collection & hd package . package price channels total channels additional language german language english language french language italian language other format mini chf 0.00 55 55 36 3 7 6 3 mini sd 34 34 19 3 5 4 3 sdtv mini hd 21 21 17 2 2 hdtv classic chf 10.00 119 64 21 19 5 2 17 classic sd 95 61 19 18 5 2 17 sdtv classic hd 24 3 2 1 hdtv comfort chf 25.00 167 48 41 7 comfort sd 130 35 30 5 sdtv comfort hd 37 13 11 2 hdtv upc option packages edit upc erotic consists of adult subscription channels . the package has the same content in all three grids . upc options single option packages in different languages . the packages if available have the same content in all three grids . parts of the upc espa ol option make part of the basic offerings in the romandie grid and most of the upc italia option makes part of the basic offerings in the ticino grid . package price channels grid ch d channels grid ch f channels grid ch i format upc erotic upc erotic chf 35.00 3 3 3 sdtv upc options upc albanica chf 22.50 2 2 2 sdtv upc options upc espa ol chf 15.00 5 basic 5 sdtv upc options upc italia chf 15.00 8 8 basic sdtv upc options upc portugu s chf 11.00 2 2 2 sdtv cablecom options upc portugu s premium chf 35.00 1 1 1 sdtv cablecom options cablecom srbija pink plus chf 27.50 2 2 2 sdtv upc options cablecom tamil chf 25.00 1 n a n a sdtv upc options upc t rkiye chf 15.00 7 7 7 sdtv upc options upc t rkiye premium chf 30.00 2 n a 2 sdtv third party offerings edit teleclub swiss subscription television service provider for the german speaking region also available through non upc cable television grids satellite in cooperation with germany s sky and swisscom tv is available as basic package with three additional optional packages . the option packages movie and family contain some non exclusive channels also available through the upc collection packages . canal french subscription television service provider also available in the french speaking region of switzerland . canal is available as basic package with one additional optional package hdtv channel . cine french subscription television service provider also available in the french speaking region of switzerland . package price channels grid ch d channels grid ch f channels grid ch i format teleclub teleclub basic chf 39.90 3 sdtv teleclub teleclub movie chf 9.90 5 sdtv teleclub teleclub family chf 9.90 6 sdtv teleclub teleclub sport chf 9.90 3 sdtv canal canal chf 55.00 5 sdtv canal canal hd incl . 1 hdtv cinecinema cinecinema chf 20.00 7 sdtv former upc packages edit in june 2010 upc introduced new hardware and restructured the basic programm packages leaving the former packages in place for all existing customers with bought hardware or rented hardware but unwilling to change packages . the change introduced the digicard conditional access module cam using ci selling for chf 99 and the mediabox receiver hd for chf 4 per month discontinuing the mediabox receiver not hd compliant selling for chf 150 or rented for chf 6 per month . the lowered hardware prices for new or changing customers were compensated by cutting the free of charge digital tv basic package over 110 tv channels in half into a free of charge mini package over 50 tv channels and a chargeable classic package containing more than 60 additional tv channels . also the former five thematic collection packages and the hd package were folded into the new comfort package and aren t sold individually anymore . customers opting to keep their existing packages are unaffected by the changes and get the digital tv basic now classic free of charge and the individual collection packages as following described . upc digital tv basic consists of approximately 100 television channels free to all customers . the channels differ between the three regional grids with a focus on carrying channels in the region s main language . the deutschschweiz grid contains furthermore 9 swiss german regional television channels epg no. 17 24 of which only one or two are available per region subgrid . upc collection consists of five thematic channel packages which can be subscribed as single package chf 7.50 per month . the complete collection of all five packages is available for chf 15.00 per month . in the upc collection the channels once again differ between the three regional grids with focus on the region s main language . upc hd consists of additional hdtv channels not included in the basic package . the package is available single chf 7.50 per month or as part of the upc collection & hd for chf 20.00 per month . package price channels grid ch d channels grid ch f channels grid ch i format upc digital tv basic chf 0.00 119 101 110 upc digital tv basic german 55 17 31 sdtv upc digital tv basic english 19 13 19 sdtv upc digital tv basic french 12 36 12 sdtv upc digital tv basic italian 6 6 27 sdtv upc digital tv basic other 21 23 17 sdtv upc digital tv basic hd 6 6 4 hdtv upc collection & hd upc collection & hd chf 20.00 44 30 19 upc collection upc collection chf 15.00 40 28 17 sdtv upc collection movie & stars m & s chf 7.50 11 6 2 sdtv upc collection docu & life d & l chf 7.50 9 7 4 sdtv upc collection kids & fun k & f chf 7.50 6 5 1 sdtv upc collection sports & more s & m chf 7.50 9 8 8 sdtv upc collection music & clips m & c chf 7.50 5 2 2 sdtv upc hd comfort hd chf 7.50 4 2 2 hdtv on demand services edit on demand services are available through the mediaboxes receiver or recorder exclusively . video on demand vod the vod content consists of newer movies most of them being hollywood productions and occasional swiss movies a few concerts a limited amount of high definition offerings and adult films . the main features are charged on a pay per view basis granting unlimited access for the