Spain’s public broadcaster RTVE will launch a nationwide UHD channel over DTT next month.
“It is intended for all citizens, free of charge and accessible to everyone, because this is public service; and because UHD is not only for the IP world and pay-TV,” said RTVE’s Ángel García Castillejo and Javier Sánchez Pérez in an article for the EBU’s tech-i.
RTVE is taking advantage of the February switch off of standard definaion transmissions to open up capacity for the new service. It’s anticipated that 98% coverage of Spain will be possible.
Ten years after tests at the Mobile World Congress, RTVE has been working with the transmission company Cellnex to test the format. This has included the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and more recently the World Athletics Championships or Spain’s matches in the FIFA Women’s World Cup last August. The success of Spain in the competition driving viewership.
Castillejo and Pérez said they were fully aware that it will take some time before all of its content in the UHD format, but the broadcaster planned to ‘carefully upscale’ HD content into the new format,
The colleagues explain that RTVE has been gradually incorporating the features that accompany the higher UHD resolution and improve “pixel quality” to reach UHD-1 Phase 2, with HDR (high dynamic range) leading the way. All of this without neglecting audio, where NGA (next generation audio) has taken over from traditional multichannel sound.
