German cable operator Unitymedia will drop the encryption of sports channel Sport1 HD during the Ice-Hockey World Championship 2019, enabling all customers to watch the live coverage in HD quality.
The competition, featuring 16 teams including Germany, will take place from May 10-26, 2019 in Slovakia. German free-to-air sports channel Sport1 will transmit most of the games live, including all matches of the German national team.
While the SD version of Sport1 is distributed unencrypted on cable, the HD signal is encrypted with a subscription and smartcard required for reception.
All Unitymedia customers will be able to receive Sport1 HD without encryption and free of charge automatically during the championship. From May 27, the channel will be encrypted again.
