Radio Bremen (RB), the regional affiliate of German public broadcaster ARD serving federal state Bremen, wants to offer its TV channel in HD quality from Q1 2019.
The upgrade process of the production in native HD has already commenced, an RB spokesman told Broadband TV News. Radio Bremen Fernsehen HD will be available on the Astra satellite system (19.2° East) and on DVB-T2.
Since the launch of DVB-T2 on March 29, 2017, Radio Bremen’s TV channel has only been upconverted from SD to HD resolution on the new DTT platform, but not offered in native HD quality.
The latest ARD affiliate having launched an HD version of its TV channel was Saarländischer Rundfunk (SR) in February 2016. With Radio Bremen Fernsehen, all regional TV channels of ARD’s affiliates will be provided in HD quality from Q1 2019.
The last ARD channel only transmitting in SD resolution is ARD-alpha, the educational TV channel of ARD’s Bavarian affiliate Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR). On DVB-T2 where ARD-alpha is currently available in Munich and Southern Bavaria as well as in Nuremberg and surroundings, the TV signal is upconverted von SD to HD, a BR spokesman told Broadband TV News. ARD-alpha currently does not have an HD playout.
ARD-alpha HD will become available via cable and satellite at a later stage, according to the BR spokesman. The exact date has not been fixed yet, he added.
