DIGITALES MEHRFACHÜBERTRAGUNGSYSTEM

A digital multicast system for distributing many channels of multimedia programmes from a source to subscriber locations over a digital network. The system has a digital subscriber line access multiplexer for receiving the channels, and respective telephone lines for transmitting the received channels to the locations. The multiplexer has a conditional access unit which includes a data memory for storing a customer profile for each subscriber including subscribed channels and permits or denies access to the channels by each subscriber based on the customer profile. A digital decoder at each location processes incoming programme signals and permits access to the corresponding customer profile. A multicast video portal is connected to the conditional access unit to enable on-line updating of the customer profiles by the subscribers, which is accessible by each subscriber using the corresponding digital decoder via the multiplexer.