HDTV arrives in Europe
Good news for European television viewers: HD is now in your neck of the woods. ProSiebenSat. 1 launched HD today, with the premiere broadcast being on Sunday. Now, they can get a taste of what their TV has been missing for a long time.
ProSiebenSat.1 launched high-definition television in Germany on Wednesday, becoming Europe’s first major broadcaster to transmit using the high-resolution format that is considered TV’s future. The free-to-air broadcaster plans to show selected programs in HDTV on its two main channels, ProSieben and Sat.1, starting with the Hollywood blockbuster “Minority Report” starring Tom Cruise on Sunday. Other European broadcasters including BSkyB (BSY.L: Quote, Profile, Research) in Britain, CanalSat (CNLP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) in France and Sky Italia (NWS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) in Italy have all promised HDTV by next June in time for the soccer World Cup, which will be used as a showcase for the format. ProSieben Chief Executive Guillaume de Posch told Reuters that the company would invest about 3 million euros a year in HDTV programming and transmission. “It will take us three to five years to make it profitable,” de Posch said on the sidelines of the official launch at the annual Medientage media event in Munich. Though only relatively small numbers of HDTV-ready sets have been bought in western Europe so far, 14 million households in the region are expected to own one by 2008, analysts at research firm Euroconsult forecast.
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