New Premiere HDTV subscriptions available as individual packages

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• Price for HD newcomers cut by up to 35 euros per month.

• No other packages required to subscribe.

• Movie highlights, documentaries and sport in outstanding sound and image quality.

• Two HD channels on offer: the new highlights channel PREMIERE HD and DISCOVERY HD.

• Receivable via satellite, cable and IPTV.

• Three Bundesliga matches every competition day in HD quality on Telekom’s VDSL network.

Premiere is making it easier to enter into the world of high definition television, HDTV.

From November 13, 2006, Premiere will be offering individual HDTV channels from 9.99 euros per month. This represents a price reduction for HD newcomers of up to 35 euros a month. Until now, customers could only subscribe to Premiere HD in combination with the 5-pack offer starting from 44.99 euros per month.

Together with this new option, Premiere is also optimizing its HD channel contents: in addition to DISCOVERY HD, November 11 will see the launch of the new channel, PREMIERE HD, featuring movie highlights and UEFA Champions League coverage.

PREMIERE HD will combine PREMIERE HD FILM and PREMIERE HD SPORT to create a new, high-quality channel. “It will now become even easier to enter into the world of high definition television: Premiere offers premium HD programming at an attractive price – and that means everyone can take full advantage of their “HD ready” screen’s potential,” explains Hans Seger, Head of Fiction and Special Interest at Premiere AG, who oversees HDTV.

Premiere is harmonizing its HD offering and will, in future, be providing two HD channels both on cable and via satellite. Starting in November, customers of Kabel Deutschland will also be able to enjoy DISCOVERY HD.

Seger: “In large parts of Germany only two of Premiere’s HDTV channels are carried on cable. In order not to exclude these customers, and others interested in HD, from our complete range of programming, we are merging our movie and sports offering.”

HD subscribers will not lose out on any programming. Premiere will continue to show movie highlights and one UEFA Champions League game per match week live in HD. In November and December, HD subscribers can look forward to blockbusters like “War of the Worlds”, “King Kong”, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” and “Madagascar”. The star highlight this fall will be the screening of all six episodes of the Star Wars saga on October 22, 2006. In addition, Premiere will be showing a mini series exclusively in HD for the first time: the four-part series “Empire Falls”, singled out for an Emmy and a Golden Globe, will be on air from December 15.

The HDTV channels PREMIERE HD and DISCOVERY HD will, in future, be available individually or in combination with all other packages. One channel costs from 9.99 euros per month, while the 7-pack offer with both HD channels starts at 44.99 euros.

The HD receiver required is available from Premiere to buy from 149 euros or to hire for 9.99 euros per month. Newcomers will therefore be able to receive HDTV from only 19.98 euros a month, including the HD receiver. But the HDTV receivers suitable for Premiere HD don’t just mean that Premiere subscribers can enjoy high-quality HD programming. With the HDMI connection, they can also watch other Premiere channels and all free-TV programs in considerably higher quality on flat screens or projectors.

PREMIERE HD and DISCOVERY HD are available throughout Germany via satellite and cable networks with the exception of North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse. To receive the HD channels, a digital receiver suitable for PREMIERE HD and flat screen or projector with an “HD ready” seal is required.

Premiere is broadcasting the HD channels using the new MPEG4/H.264 compression procedure which, for the first time ever, enables an economic and wide-range transmission of HDTV channels. Broadcasting the programming in 1080i format also guarantees excellent PREMIERE HD image quality.

As part of the “Bundesliga auf Premiere powered by T-Com” offering, Premiere will be showing three games in HD quality from every Bundesliga competition day via Deutsche Telekom’s new VDSL network.

The pay-TV operator will be showing one game in HD on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The “Bundesliga auf Premiere powered by T-Com” offering, with all 612 games from the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga live, is already available on Deutsche Telekom’s new VSDL network from 9.95 euros per month, including HD transmission. “Whilst other broadcasters are still thinking about HDTV, we’re already showing premium programming in HD using a new transmission system” says Seger.

In addition to cable and satellite, the new Internet Protocol TV Standard (IPTV) is a third transmission mode for high definition TV. The PREMIERE HD and DISCOVERY HD channels are also available via IPTV for 9.99 euros/ month each.

[nanochickin]

Could you ever imagine Sly or Televest doing that.