Austrian public broadcaster ORF will launch an HD channel on May 1. The new channel will offer the complete program of ORF1 in HD format including the 31 matches from EURO 2008.
ORF is the second German language broadcaster to launch in HD, the Swiss national broadcaster SRG/SSR has been broadcasting an HD channel for some time now.
The agreement with ORF allows the use of additional capacity for the HD channel. In cooperation with the ORF service company ORS, it includes the possibility for further HD programmes with which this new capacity will ramp up to a full transponder in January 2010. As part of the agreement, SES Astra and ORF will also cooperate to promote the new HD offer, including a road show in the country, which starts today (April 17)in Vienna.
After the launch of ORF HD, the combined satellite systems of SES Astra and SES Sirius will transmit 31 HD channels including BSkyB, BBC, Discovery, National Geographic, CANAL+, M6, TF1 and Premiere. By the end of 2010, SES expects to transmit around 100 HD channels.
Austrian cable operators are expected to take the channel as well. This morning, Salzburg AG said subscribers to their CableLink network would start to receive ORF HD from June 8th. The operator serves 88,000 households in the city of Salzburg. New subscribers to the cable TV service will receive the first six months for free.
