NTV Plus launches HDTV services via Eutelsat’s W4 satellite

[Analoguesat]

Russian broadcaster NTV-Plus has announced the launch of new premium HDTV services which will be available through the W4 satellite operated by Eutelsat Communications. The HD launch follows the signatures inked in October and November 2006 between Eutelsat and Intersputnik, on behalf of NTV Plus, of new contracts for four transponders on W4. The new capacity was secured to support the launch of new HDTV services by NTV-Plus to add to its growing stable of Standard Digital channels and services.

The HDTV offering, which is the first in Russia, will further consolidate the NTV-Plus platform which assembles over 100 Russian and international digital channels. NTV-Plus today serves a subscriber base of more than 560,000 homes in Russia and the Ukraine, representing more than 1.5 million viewers. Under the Chairmanship of Dmitry Samokhin, the Group employs more than 900 broadcast professionals.

The initial HDTV offering supplied by NTV-Plus will comprise three channels: HD Kino (cinema), HD Sport and HD Life. HD Kino and HD Sport are produced by NTV-Plus while HD Life is produced by the Russian company Red Media for NTV-Plus. All HD content will be broadcast using MPEG4 compression which means that subscribers will exchange their existing decoder for a new decoder able to receive Standard Digital and HD content via an HDMI port.

NTV-Plus’s objective is to capture between 10,000 and 20,000 HD subscribers by the end of 2007, taking advantage of the fast take-up in Russia of flat-screendisplays since 2005 of which the vast majority are HD-Ready. NTV-Plus anticipates that subscribers will in particular be attracted by sports events in 2007 filmed and broadcast in HD, in advance of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

The broadcaster has invested $3.5 million in new production and broadcast equipment to support this new phase of expansion. Dmitry Samokhin, CEO of NTV-Plus said, “We see our company as both creative and innovative. We aim to provide our customers the best possible offer in terms of content and quality. We are the first in the Russian pay- TV market to launch HDTV, and we are sure that our viewers will appreciate the superiority of HDTV format”.

(Source: Eutelsat)