The DTH platform UPC Direct is likely to add HD channels to its offer in the second half of 2010.
The channels would be distributed from Telenor’s One West position to where UPC Direct will migrate in the late spring of 2010. HD is being made possible by the additional capacity that will be held on Thor 5 and Thor 6, where seven transponders will be in use, as opposed to the five currently in operation on Astra.
UPC Direct is present in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, while the sister service Focus Sat operates in Romania.
Although there are no immediate plans to also introduce HD on Focus Sat – the Romanian operation maintains separate playout – the possibility remains.
UPC’s Romanian cable network will, however, start carrying HD services from later this year.
A spokesman for UPC declined to comment.
