SES Astra and the German television channel Tele 5 have signed an agreement to increase the satellite capacity for the channel to improve and optimise the picture quality in Standard Definition (SD) transmissions. The agreement on additional capacity is effective immediately.
“This new agreement with Tele 5 shows that TV channels and viewers are benefiting from the technical advantages of the satellite transmission not only in the area of High Definition (HD) but also in Standard Definition”, said Wolfgang Elsässer, Managing Director of Astra in Germany in a prepared statement. “The further improvement of the transmission quality is especially driven by the increasing demand for high quality TV flat screens and represents a significant driver for digital capacity demand.”
“The digital transmission of our program becomes increasingly important for us as the share of digital satellite households is steadily growing”, said Ludwig Bauer, Managing Director of Tele 5. “Our ambition as a movie channel is to offer the 8.2 million digital satellite households in Germany top cinema quality in their living rooms. With this additional capacity agreement with Astra, we can further strengthen our profile as a premium movie channel.”
The capacity increase for the Munich based free-to-air movie channel comes to no surprise, as all German broadcasters have also recently increased capacity on Astra for improvement of their picture quality – rather than choosing for HD they prefer for the moment to optimise thier SD quality.
