After German public broadcaster ARD, German-French cultural channel ARTE has also decided to postpone the switch-off of its SD distribution on Astra (19.2° East), originally announced for January 2021.
“As you know, ARTE, Phoenix, Tagesschau24 and ONE share the same satellite transponder. In accordance with ARD, we will continue SD broadcasting. ZDF was also involved in forming an opinion about ARTE,” an ARTE spokeswoman told German media magazine DWDL. No details were given on how long the SD transmission will continue.
Earlier, ARD’s general directors decided that they did not want their viewers to be exposed to a technical change of this kind during the Corona crisis. ZDF extended its contract for the lease of analogue transponder capacity on Astra in May 2020.
