Austria’s transmitter company ORS has said it will start testing DVB-T2 broadcasts in the cities of Vienna and Graz before the 2010 World Cup. The company, owned by public broadcaster ORF, will test SD and HD broadcasts in the T2 standard.
The new technology will either increase the number of SD channels available on a single multiplex or offer the potential of terrestrial HD broadcasts. The pilot will run at least until the end of this year.
ORS spokesperson Michael Weber told newspaper Der Standard that the company wants to win business from the German private broadcasters RTL Group and ProSiebenSat.1, not only for terrestrial broadcasts, but also for the distribution of their HD channels to Austrian satellite viewers. Weber: “There will be an attractive proposition for the big German private broadcasters.”
At the moment, ORS offers Austrian DTH viewers access to all Austrian private and public channels on their own platform and also reception of a number of German Sky channels. The plan seems to be to start to offer access to the German HD+ platform to Austrian households.
The ORS is also working on a hybrid box which will enable users to access on-demand programming from the internet, including the catch-up TV service ORF-Mediathek.
