C-COR GLOBAL IP SUMMIT – CANNES. SES-Astra VP, Product Management, Thomas Wrede is standing by the satellite operator’s strategy of using around 14 Mbps for the transmission of HD channels. “We don’t believe we can deliver good quality below 10 Mbps…but the broadcasters need to give the best quality,” Wrede told the C-COR IP Summit. “We expect to transmit HD TV at below 8 Mbps in the future, but that future is still 2 to 3 years away.”
Earlier, Hervé Payan, Senior Vice President, Content Services, Orange – France Telecom explained that after launching an HD service one year ago at speeds of 12 Mbps, the French IPTV operation was expecting to bring rates down to 6 Mbps by the beginning of 2008.
Wrede said that HD rollout was now at the stage when many broadcasters, including Germany’s public channels, were preparing their own HD services. This had led to a lull in new HD services. However, he said that Astra was on course for the delivery of 100 HD channels by 2010.
