German public broadcaster ZDF has not yet made a decision on terminating the SD satellite distribution of its TV channels on Astra (19.2° East).
This was confirmed to Broadband TV News by a ZDF spokesman. “As soon as this will be the case, ZDF will provide comprehensive information in good time,” he stressed.
German public broadcaster ARD, however, will terminate the SD distribution of its TV channels on Astra at the beginning of 2025. The channels will then only be available in HD resolution to DTH satellite households.
“A parallel broadcast of SD and HD with the now very low use of SD is no longer economically reasonable,” explained an ARD spokesperson.
According to the Astra satellite operator SES, of the 16.3 million DTH satellite households in Germany, only 1.1 million still only use SD channels – less than 7%.
On November 15, 2022, ARD commenced SD switch-off: ARTE, Phoenix, tagesschau24 and One can since then only be received in HD quality via Astra.
