Satellite receiver equipment supplied by NDS and produced by the UK-based set top box maker Pace, has been selected by Sky Deutschland, which will supply digital satellite TV subscribers with the NDS XTV digital HD TV equipment.

The set-top-box incorporates a 320 GB hard drive personal video recorder (PVR) which is capable of storing up to fifty standard definition films or up to twenty-five films in high definition.

This equipment is ready to receive 3D TV services as well as the Sky Anytime video on demand service.

This is a good deal for Pace which is currently ranked second in the world when it comes to supplying digital TV set top box equipment.

The US-based Motorola is ranked number one.

The rest is here:
Pace wins Sky Germany deal

Website: Rapid TV News

German home-shopping broadcaster HSE24 wants to launch a third channel. “Our new channel HSE24 Extra experiences dynamic growth.

“We therefore evaluate the creation of another digital channel which could, for example, focus on fashion,” CEO Richard Reitzner told German financial newspaper Handelsblatt.

The broadcaster hasn’t been hit by lower consumer interest due to the economic crisis, receiving around 28,000 calls each day, mainly by women above 50 years of age.

Last year, HSE24 increased its turnover by 12% to €394m.

“The company is performing very well. We are not affected by the crisis because people always like to afford themselves something small especially from our core areas of fashion, jewellery or beauty,” said Reitzner.

The broadcaster says it has reached record profitability with the EBITDA climbing by more than 35% last year, but Reitzner didn’t give the exact figures.

For 2010, he expects a robust development of turnover and profit.

This year, HSE24 wants to increasingly focus on exploring new sales platforms for example one-click home-shopping via mobile phones and social networks such as Facebook, also its online shop will be expanded.

“Our target is to reach around one third of our turnover via internet and mobile phones in three years,” said Reitzner. The share currently amounts to 16%.

The broadcaster, which is currently only present in German-language Europe, also wants to expand into other countries.

“For us, markets like Italy, Poland and, of course, Russia are interesting.

“We will tap into a new market at the end of 2010 or in early 2011,” Reitzner announced.

Go here to read the rest:
New shopping channel to launch in Germany

Website: Rapid TV News

HDTV, Video-on-Demand and the possibility to make internet content and applications available on TV sets using hybrid technology open up plenty of new revenue sources for the cable industry.

However, cable operators see no necessity to terminate analogue TV carriage which is planned for the German DTH market on Apr 30 2012.

These are the main results of the fifth leadership summit which industry association Cable Holding recently held in Luxembourg.

At the conference, leading executives of the cable industry discussed current issues in the digital media market with experts from politics, media and financial world.

HDTV is seen by the industry as the most significant driving force behind digitalisation of German TV households, confirmed Harald Rösch, CEO of cable operator Kabel BW, and Andreas Siemen, director of corporate development at Kabel Deutschland.

An important role is played by HD digital recorders which cable companies currently offer their customers at favourable conditions to convince them of the advantages of digital television.

Also, 3DTV could push digitalisation in the medium-term, the executives agreed.

Less important for consumers would be the expansion of the channel line-up as cable would already offer a broad variety.

In contrast to DTH satellite reception, an analogue TV switch-off in cable networks would neither be necessary nor desired by cable customers, the executives claimed.

As the main reasons network operators point to long-term contracts with the housing industry for provision of analogue cable television and the increasing number of second and third TV sets in households.

Read the original:
Cable operators in Germany stay with analogue

Website: Rapid TV News

The number of satellite households receiving digital television via Astra (19.2° East) in Germany has risen in 2009 by around one million to 12.14 million.

More than half (58%) of Germany’s total number of digital TV households are Astra households, confirming the role of DTH as the main accelerator for digitalisation in Germany.

Out of Germany’s 37.4 million TV households, 21.12 million (56%) were digital households at the end of 2009.

However, there’s still great disparity between reception methods: 75% of DTH households have moved to digital, while the digital share on cable networks stands at 34%.

The figures are taken from the new Satellite Monitor report which SES Astra unveiled at a press conference in Berlin on March 17.

For the study, which market research group TNS Infratest compiles each year for the satellite operator, around 6,000 interviews were conducted in autumn 2009 in Germany.

A look at reception methods reveals that cable networks continue to be the main television supplier.

Out of Germany’s 37.4 million TV households 18.6 million have a cable subscription, giving cable a market share of 50%.

16.2 million households have a DTH system (43%), 2 million (5%) rely on DTT and 700,000 (2%) have opted for IPTV.

HDTV continues to be a driving force for digitalisation.

According to market research group GfK, in December 2009 more HD receivers were sold than conventional set-top-boxes for the first time.

Since the introduction of HDTV in Germany in January 2006, a total of 1.3 million satellite HD receivers have been sold.

At the end of January 2010, more than 22 million HD ready TV sets stood in German households.

With the launch of the public broadcasters’ HD channels at the Winter Olympics, German DTH households can now receive 17 HD channels on Astra, leading to Germany jumping from spot 17 to spot 4 amongst Europe’s HD nations within the past 12 months.

SES Astra expects to carry “considerably more than 20 HD channels” on its satellite system for German households by the end of the year.

Originally posted here:
Astra adds 1 million customers in Germany

Just as Sky TV prepares to launch a full 3D TV service in the UK, in Europe 3D football is just kicking off.

Sky Deutschland premiered its version of the format to a selected audience of just one hundred and twenty, including Franz Beckenbauer, Matthias Sammer, FC Bayern director Christian Nerlinger and DFL Officer Tom Bender.

The event took place in Munich and covered the match between Bayer Leverkusen and Hamburger SV.

All of the guests, including the dignitaries, had to wear 3D glasses in order to experience the full effects of the 3D broadcast.

According to the deputy CEO of Sky Germany, Brian Sullivan, the event made German television history.

The company is proud to be the first to show 3D TV in Germany.

See original here:
3D TV Football scores in Germany