His appointment at Ziggo Group is expected to take effect on 1 September 2026.

Fruytier will leave Sunrise on 31 August but will remain available in an advisory capacity to support a smooth transition. Sunrise has launched an internal and external search for his successor.

Fruytier has served as CFO of Sunrise since December 2020, playing a key role in the company’s financial transformation. He oversaw the merger and integration of Sunrise and UPC, including the delivery of targeted cost and revenue synergies that strengthened the company’s competitive position in Switzerland.

He also led the financial strategy for Sunrise’s spin‑off from Liberty Global and its listing on SIX Swiss Exchange in 2024. His remit included designing the stand‑alone capital structure, managing separation and transitional agreements, overseeing investor communications and coordinating the ADS distribution process that enabled the listing. Before joining Sunrise, he was CFO of UPC Eastern Europe and previously held several finance roles within Liberty Global.

“Jany has made an outstanding contribution to the development and success of Sunrise during a highly transformative period. He has combined financial discipline with strategic clarity and led complex processes such as the merger integration and the spin-off with great commitment and professionalism. I’d like to thank him sincerely for his leadership and wish him every success in this next stage of his career,” said Sunrise CEO André Krause.

Fruytier added: “I’m grateful to have been able to play a significant role in shaping Sunrise’s success story during the decisive phase of the past years. Today, Sunrise is a strong, independent company with a clear financial strategy, delivering tangible value for investors and being very well positioned for future growth. I wish the company all the very best for the future and will strongly support it throughout the entire transition period.”

Cable TV revenue-generating units (RGUs) fell to around 1.01 million in the quarter, compared with 1.08 million a year earlier. According to the company, the development was partly influenced by the disposal of a non-strategic foreign signal footprint and a data-driven booking effect related to the fourth quarter of 2025.

Overall quarterly revenue nevertheless increased slightly by 0.6% year-on-year to €105.5 million as gains in broadband and telephony offset weakness in the TV business. Revenue from internet and telephony services rose 6.5% to €61.2 million, while internet RGUs increased 5.3% to around 746,000.

“We have made a good start to the year 2026. Our internet and telephony business continues to grow and remains the key driver of our development,” said Christoph Lüthe, CEO of Tele Columbus. “With the wholesale cooperation with 1&1 agreed in early May 2026, we are unlocking additional growth potential for our network. Over the remainder of the year, we will focus on sustaining this growth in our core business and on advancing our fibre roll-out in a targeted manner.”

The agreement with 1&1 is intended to open Tele Columbus’ fibre infrastructure to approximately 1.2 million additional households over time.

Tele Columbus reported preliminary EBITDA of €43.2 million for the first quarter, up 33% from €32.5 million in the prior-year period. Normalised EBITDA increased 13% to €44.2 million. The Berlin-based company attributed the earnings improvement to transformation and efficiency measures as well as lower personnel, marketing and direct costs.

Capital expenditure excluding leasing declined 49.8% year-on-year to €18 million as Tele Columbus continued a more selective investment approach focused on fibre expansion and network modernisation.

“The earnings development in the first quarter shows that our transformation and efficiency initiatives are taking effect,” said Tim Rhönisch, CFO of Tele Columbus. “We have noticeably improved our profitability and are at the same time investing in a more targeted manner – with a clear focus on fibre and network modernisation. We will maintain this course over the remainder of the year, combined with strict cost discipline and a targeted capital allocation.”

Group revenue came in at €422.7 million, down 0.8% year on year and in line with guidance, as the company navigated a highly competitive broadband market and structural pressure on cable TV. Growth in internet and telephony services continued to underpin performance, with revenues in the segment rising 13.1% to €235.3 million.

“Tele Columbus showed a solid operational performance in 2025 despite a persistently challenging market environment. We are growing consistently upon our strengths – in the internet and telephony business on our own infrastructure. Overall, we have selectively expanded the footprint of our gigabit and fibre-optic capabilities,” said CEO Christoph Lüthe.

Internet access was a key driver for the group. The company’s internet customer base increased to 742,000 revenue-generating units (RGUs), up 5.7% year on year, while average revenue per user rose sharply to €21.31 from €17.99.

However, the TV business remained under pressure following regulatory changes. The abolition of cable TV fees in ancillary rental costs, which took effect in July 2024, continued to weigh on customer numbers. Cable TV RGUs declined 6% to 1.03 million, while premium TV subscribers fell to around 486,000 from 508,000 a year earlier.

As a result, the total customer base declined 3.7% to 1.33 million, driven primarily by the contraction in the TV segment, even as internet customers increased.

On the infrastructure side, Tele Columbus continued to prioritise fibre deployment and network modernisation, while tightening investment discipline. Capital expenditure fell sharply to €173.9 million from €263.2 million in 2024, a drop of 33.9%, reflecting more selective project execution and changes in capitalisation of project expenses.

Despite the lower spend, the company expanded its high-speed network footprint. The number of gigabit-capable households rose by around 180,000, while fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) connected households increased to 230,000, up from 188,000 a year earlier.

Profitability was under pressure in 2025. Normalised EBITDA declined 9.7% to €168.4 million, affected by higher non-capitalised project expenses and the absence of a positive prior-year effect from reversed provisions for signal costs.

Reported EBITDA fell 7.5% to €128.1 million. Lower marketing, legal and consultancy costs partially offset the impact of higher project expenses, as key transformation and migration activities were largely completed, according to the company.

The rollout, announced at German trade show ANGA COM 2026, will see existing devices such as GigaTV Net, Giga Cable Box 1 and Horizon gradually replaced with the latest generation GigaTV Home set-top box. The hardware swap will take place in phases and is expected to be completed by the end of 2027, according to the company.

The upgrade is intended to give customers access to a unified entertainment platform combining linear TV, streaming services, media libraries and video-on-demand in a single interface across both cable and internet delivery.

“We continuously improve the TV experience for our customers,” said Matthias Lorenz, Head of Consumer Business at Vodafone Deutschland. “GigaTV Home brings together TV channels, streaming services, media libraries and video-on-demand on one platform. To ensure customers benefit from the full range of features, we will replace around 400,000 older TV boxes with new devices by the end of 2027.”

Alongside the hardware transition, Vodafone is also expanding its audio offering. From mid-June, the company will offer compact wireless speakers as an extension to its GigaTV Home Sound system.

The GigaTV Home set-top box includes an integrated audio system designed to support Dolby Atmos sound. In combination with the external speakers, Vodafone said users will be able to achieve a more immersive home cinema experience. The sound system has been optimised in collaboration with acoustics specialists from Bang & Olufsen.

GigaTV Home is positioned as Vodafone’s central TV and entertainment hub, integrating broadcast television and streaming services into a single interface. The standard package includes access to 82 SD channels and 57 HD channels, with additional HD channels available via the Vodafone Premium pay-TV add-on.

The upgrade to Low-Latency DOCSIS is being deployed across Vodafone’s cable network in phases, with the company targeting activation for around 12 million households by October 2026. Full coverage across the operator’s around 24 million households is expected within around two years.

The technology can cut response times for latency-sensitive applications by more than half under heavy network load, particularly during peak usage periods when congestion has traditionally caused delays or reduced performance, according to the company.

“Today marks the starting signal,” said Marcel de Groot, CEO of Vodafone Deutschland. “We are making our cable network fit for the future and significantly improve response times technically. Every millisecond can make a difference in video calls or gaming. The latency booster delivers noticeable improvements, especially during peak hours.”

The rollout is already underway in selected network segments. By October, Vodafone expects around 45% of its cable network to be equipped with the technology. At that point, firmware updates will also be pushed to compatible cable routers, enabling customers to benefit from the improvements in everyday use without needing to replace hardware.

According to Vodafone, early live testing was carried out in Stuttgart in a network segment covering around 100 household connections over several months. The pilot used the company’s Ultra Hub 7 router and generated thousands of measurements. Vodafone said the results showed latency reductions of more than 50% for selected real-time applications during peak traffic compared with the previous setup.

The technology is based on the DOCSIS cable standard, which combines fibre optics up to local distribution points with coaxial cable for the final stretch into homes. The new system prioritises time-sensitive data streams by effectively assigning them a “fast lane” in the network.

This means applications such as video calls, online gaming and cloud services are processed with reduced buffering and prioritised routing, even when large background data transfers such as downloads or software updates are running simultaneously.

The upgrade is implemented at network level and does not require customers to replace cables or routers in most cases, with improvements delivered automatically as the rollout progresses.

The operator unveiled the feature at trade fair ANGA COM 2026 in Cologne, ahead of the tournament’s start on 11 June. The technology reduces the delay for cable TV viewers watching matches carried on Das Erste HD and ZDF HD by ingesting an accelerated broadcast signal directly into Vodafone’s cable network, bypassing additional processing steps.

The speed-up applies to all World Cup matches shown by ARD and ZDF, which together are broadcasting 60 of the tournament’s 104 matches.

“During the World Cup, we are enabling football fans to celebrate faster on cable TV,” said Fabrizio Rocchio, Chief Technology Officer at Vodafone Deutschland. “The technical changes reduce transmission delay by several seconds, so goals can be seen on television screens via cable faster than before.”

Vodafone previously deployed the same low-latency feature for the UEFA Euro Football Championship 2024. Like it was the case in 2024, the optimisation will be deactivated after the World Cup 2026, a company spokesman confirmed to Broadband TV News, citing “technical reasons.”

Virgin Media O2 has launched a certified customer service training programme with the Institute of Customer Service as part of efforts to improve support for customers.

The bespoke programme is designed for contact centre staff and focuses on handling complex customer interactions, building trust, emotional intelligence, empathy and managing challenging conversations.

The first group of employees has completed the training, which is now being rolled out more widely across frontline teams and partners.

Virgin Media O2 said the initiative supports broader improvements in customer service, with complaints falling by almost 50% last year and 70% now resolved within 24 hours.

Alan Stott, director of customer contact at Virgin Media O2, said: “Investing in our people is one of the most important ways we can improve the experience we deliver to our customers.”

Jo Causon, CEO of the Institute of Customer Service, described the programme as “a clear sign of intent” and said frontline capability was one of the most direct ways to improve customer experience.

The training forms part of a wider improvement plan that includes Virgin Media O2’s Lumi AI tool, automatic call summaries, better call routing, a specialist Manchester-based team for complex cases and a partnership with Money Wellness to support financially vulnerable customers.

Ziggo is adding ESPN channels 2, 3 and 4 to all digital TV packages, giving customers access to every Eredivisie match without taking an additional sports package.

From July 1, all 306 Eredivisie matches will be available to Ziggo digital TV customers. The move also brings access to other Dutch football on ESPN, including the Kampioen Divisie, Women’s Eredivisie, KNVB Cup and Jong Oranje matches.

The monthly price of Ziggo’s consumer TV package will rise by €2.50. Existing customers still within a 12 or 24-month contract will receive the additional ESPN channels free for the remainder of their contract.

Customers currently taking ESPN Compleet will move to ESPN Premium, paying €9.95 per month instead of €17.95, with access to ESPN 1-4 in Ultra HD via the Next and Next Mini boxes and Full HD streaming via Ziggo GO and ESPN Watch.

Small business customers will also receive all ESPN channels in the standard digital TV package, with prices increasing by €2 per month excluding VAT.

Frank Rutten and Marco de Ruiter, managing directors of Eredivisie Media & Marketing at ESPN, described the agreement as “a huge step for the supporters, the clubs, and football in the Netherlands as a whole”.

Robin Kroes, director of consumer market at VodafoneZiggo, said football was part of Dutch culture and should be available “in every living room”.

The product, marketed under business division PŸUR Business, has already been installed more than 6,000 times in residential buildings across Germany, according to the Berlin-based company. The screen is designed to replace traditional notice boards in apartment entrances, allowing landlords and housing associations to send building-specific updates to residents in real time.

According to Tele Columbus, the vandal-resistant display includes certified fire protection standards that allow installation in escape and rescue routes. The system is managed through a content management platform and can be upgraded with premium features such as local public transport departure times, service listings and multilingual translation tools.

Until now, the Smart Infoscreen had only been offered to Tele Columbus housing-sector customers. Under the new model, third-party network operators in all existing PŸUR sales regions will be able to market the service to their own clients, supported by Tele Columbus staff trained in rollout and implementation.

Tele Columbus cited a recent deployment with WBG Reichenbach in Reichenbach as evidence of market demand. The company said it installed 151 Smart Infoscreens there within a year after convincing the housing cooperative of the benefits of digital tenant communication.

“With the Smart Infoscreen, we offer the housing industry a product that noticeably simplifies and modernises daily communication with tenants. The project in Reichenbach shows how quickly and smoothly such a rollout can succeed, and how great demand in the market is,” said Christian Biechteler, Chief Sales Officer Housing Industry & Infrastructure at Tele Columbus. “We look forward to scaling this successful model nationwide together with other network operators.”

Tele Columbus reaches around three million households in Germany and operates consumer services under the PŸUR brand, offering broadband, telephony and television services.

The linear 24/7 service will go live on 22 May 2026, on the eve of the DFB Cup final, with live coverage from the event marking its debut, unveiled DFB.TV Managing Director Gisbert Wundram in an interview with Broadband TV News. “We are creating a new media home for football fans in Germany. DFB.TV has the potential to become an important player in the country’s sports media landscape,” he said.

The channel will feature live coverage, reports, interviews and background programming across the breadth of German football. This includes the junior national teams, the amateurs’ finals, Futsal, Beach Soccer and DFB eCup. Highlights and summaries from the DFB Cup, the 3. Liga, the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga and the national teams round off the schedule, alongside historical retrospectives and classic matches. In addition to the linear channel, content will be available on demand

DFB.TV will also accompany Germany’s national teams across training camps, international fixtures and tournaments. During the FIFA World Cup 2026, the channel plans on-site coverage from the team base camp and the “German House of Soccer”, including the live broadcast of all press conferences and behind-the-scenes reporting.

The aim is to broaden the range of football content available to fans and show competitions and stories that currently receive limited or no television exposure, bringing the full scope of German football closer to audiences, said Wundram. He stressed that DFB.TV is designed as a complementary offering to the association’s existing broadcast rights partners rather than a competitor.

The venture will be led by a three-member management team comprising Kay Dammholz, Director Media Rights at DFB, and Gisbert Wundram and Bendix Eisermann, Managing Directors at Sportainment. The Hamburg-based media company brings operational expertise to the project, having launched and managed multiple sports channels including Sportdigital Fußball and Sportdigital 1+.

DFB.TV will be funded through a combination of pay-TV subscriptions and advertising, with advertising sales handled by Publicis Groupe under a broader strategic partnership covering marketing and monetisation.

The channel will be distributed across cable, satellite, IPTV and OTT with confirmed carriage at launch including Vodafone’s nationwide cable network, DTH satellite distribution on Astra (19.2° East) via HD+, TV streaming service Zattoo and sports streamer DAZN. Talks are ongoing with further platform operators including Deutsche Telekom’s MagentaTV and Sky Deutschland. The goal is to achieve universal technical availability in Germany at launch, said Wundram.

Besides the distribution partners, DFB.TV will also be offered via the stand-alone app DFB.TV+, developed with technology provider Deltatre. DFB.TV+ will be available to consumers for €5.99 per month or €59.99 annually with the subscription including access to the linear 24/7 channel and the on-demand library. The app will also be offered in Austria and Switzerland.