Austria’s largest cable operator UPC Austria will take 11 new HD channels on board its line-up on 20 May, 2014.
In addition to the 10 additions announced in April 2014, the new services include ARD’s digital channel EinsFestival HD on which the German public broadcaster will transmit some of the games of the upcoming FIFA Football World Cup 2014.
Fellow public broadcaster ZDF will outsource some World Cup matches to digital channel ZDFinfo which UPC Austria will also add in HD quality to its offering. The Liberty Global subsidiary thereby ensures that viewers will be able to watch all 64 World Cup games transmitted live by ARD and ZDF in HD quality.
The other additions in the free-to-air segment will be SF 2 HD, Phoenix HD, EinsPlus HD, Sport1 HD, MDR Fernsehen HD and SWR Fernsehen HD. The pay-TV package HD Extra will be expanded by Animal Planet HD, Nat Geo People HD and Universal Channel HD.
UPC Austria customers will then be able to receive up to 72 HD channels (including Sky Deutschland).
