Sky Deutschland launches HD starter box

Sky Deutschland has launched a big marketing campaign centering around its HD services with a specially priced HD starter box retailing at €199.00, which includes a prepaid subscription and an HD receiver.

The box is available in two versions, one for DTH satellite reception and one with a cable tuner. Included is a subscription until the end of July to all channels in the basic Sky Welt bouquet (21 channels) and, for satellite viewers, Sky Welt Extra with an additional 18 channels.

The seven HD channels from Sky, including Sky Cinema HD and Sky Sports HD, are found in both versions. In the coming weeks, the HD movie channel will premiere a number of films on the German market including Hancock, Madagascar 2 and Australia.

The campaign will run until January 12, 2010. Boxes are available in retail, but can also be ordered via a dedicated phone line and on the website.

People who buy the Sky HD box will also be able to see all the free-to-air HD channels including the one that ARD and ZDF will launch early next year. At the moment there is no news whether the Sky HD boxes will be compatible with the HD+ platform from SES Astra, which now carries RTL HD and Vox HD with three channels from ProSiebenSat.1 following in January.

KabelBW launches new HD offer. High definition seems to be the flavour of the season. The German cable operator has introduced a new Clever HD package consisting of four HD channels at EUR 4.90. The channels are MTVNHD, DeLuxe Lounge HD, Classica HD and Rush HD. For the latter, this is the first distribution deal in Germany.

KabelBW has also added the free-to-air channel Servus HD from Austria, which is available as part of the basic offer. Another new arrival on the network is Penthouse HD, which is bookable as an option.

Subscribers who buy the new Clever HD bouquet or Penthouse HD will get free rental of the HD cable tuner. The operator said they now offer a total of 19 HD channels to their customers.