Archive notice: This article was originally published on January 31, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
While sales of HD-capable TV sets continue to climb, the public-service broadcasters are hesitating to introduce HDTV, criticises the Federal Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM) http://www.bitkom.org. In view of the European Football Championship, the introduction of high-definition television should be brought forward. ARD and ZDF currently plan to launch it with the Winter Olympics in February 2010. “The public-service broadcasters play a decisive role in the spread of HDTV,” Christian Garrels, spokesman for ProSiebenSat1 Produktion http://www.p7s1Produktion.de, also emphasises in conversation with pressetext.de.
The broadcasters ProSieben and Sat1 began broadcasting HD content as early as October 2005. Blockbusters, premium series and sports programmes can be received by TV consumers in high-resolution quality. The rest of the programming is upscaled, which means that a quality improvement can already be seen even with the standard signal, Garrels explains. “We currently broadcast a share of 20 to 25 percent of primetime content in HD and are working to increase this figure continuously.” Joint efforts by producers, providers and distributors were required here to improve the share of HD programming, Garrels said.
In total, according to BITKOM figures, around 1.4 million households are expected to watch HD pictures occasionally by the end of 2008. In addition to these active HD households, there will be more than five million “passive” HD households that have the technology but do not use it in any form. The proportion of all HD households in Germany will therefore be around 17 percent, rising to around 30 percent by 2009 and respectivley 47 percent by 2010. For this reason, an earlier launch for the 2008 European Football Championship would be desirable, as would regular operation from 2009, the association said in a release.
“We see the dynamics of the market,” ARD spokesman Peter Meyer says in response to a pressetext enquiry. However, market penetration with HD-capable receivers, and therefore the relevance of the technology, was still too low, Meyer says, explaining the decision to retain the original plans. “After all, one must not forget that the investments involve licence-fee money,” Meyer said. HDTV preparations are meanwhile proceeding as planned, and it is of course possible that corresponding test and pilots will still be carried out before 2010, the ARD spokesman notes.
As part of its proposal, BITKOM points to the neighbouring countries of Austria and Switzerland. According to the information, public-service broadcasters there are planning to transmit the European Championship matches in HD quality. Equipment manufacturers would also like a clear timetable from the broadcasters showing how and when they will switch to transmissions in HD format, according to the industry association.
