German transmitter network operator Media Broadcast has extended the reach of the DVB-T2 platform and unveiled new channels.
The preliminary package with Das Erste HD, ZDF HD, RTL HD, Sat.1 HD, ProSieben HD and VOX HD has launched on the transmitter sites in Mannheim and Heidelberg, Holger Meinzer, chief commercial officer B2B of Media Broadcast, told Broadband TV News at ANGA COM 2016.
Commercial TV channels have thereby become available in the Rhine-Neckar area on DTT for the first time, boosting the total DVB-T2 reach by 1.5 million to 55 million people.
A special treat for football fans: DVB-T2 is the only platform on which all games of the upcoming UEFA Euro 2016 will be available in HD quality free of charge, as Mainzer pointed out. The reason: Besides public broadcasters ARD and ZDF, selected games will be shown by Sat.1 – which is, like the other commercial channels, encrypted, but offered at no charge during the introductory period.
With Sport1 HD and QVC HD, Meinzer also unveiled two further channels that will be part of the DVB-T2 platform when it launches its regular service on March 29, 2017.
Negotiations with all relevant broadcasters are underway, said Meinzer, adding that there was strong demand. The full list of the around 40 channels that will be part of the platform at the regular launch will be announced at IFA Berlin in early September 2016.
