RTL Belgium will launch a dedicated HD sports channel called RTL Sport HD on April 11. It will bring together all sports events broadcast on RTL TVI, Club RTL and Plug RTL in HD.
RTL Sport HD will be available on the VOO and Numericable cable networks in French speaking Belgium, as well as on the IPTV networks of Belgacom TV and Billi. At present it is not known if Telenet will also distribute the new HD channel to its subscribers in Dutch speaking Belgium.
The first HD broadcast of the new channel will be the first test in Qatar of the Moto GP. All 18 test of the competition will be broadcast in HD. Other sports scheduled will be the four semi-final returns and the final of the Champions League which takes place in Madrid, and the Wimbledon tennis tournament.
RTL has said the sports channel is the first move towards launching HD versions of all its three channels in the Belgian (French speaking) market.