Archive notice: This article was originally published on April 16, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
On “Das Erste”, viewers can experience the competitions from Berlin in pin-sharp picture quality. The HDTV broadcast of the World Athletics Championships is thus the first test transmission on ARD’s main channel.
ARD Chairman Fritz Raff said: “With the HDTV broadcast of the 2009 World Athletics Championships, we are taking another step into the digital future. HDTV will establish itself in the market in the long term. High-definition television will become the general quality standard by 2010 at the latest, when ARD and ZDF begin regular HDTV broadcasts with the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.”
The HDTV signal for the World Athletics Championships will be produced by ZDF as host broadcaster and made available worldwide. The World Championships in August 2009 offer a dress rehearsal for a major sporting event with HDTV in Germany, before ARD begins regular operations in the new television format at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Following two HDTV showcases on digital channel EinsFestival that have already been successful and received an extremely positive response from viewers, ARD and ZDF are thus following their jointly developed roadmap for the introduction of high-definition television.
This provides for the main ARD and ZDF channels to be broadcast via a specially designated satellite transponder on Astra between August 15 and August 23. Viewers can continue to watch all broadcasts through their usual reception methods; an HDTV-capable television and an appropriate HDTV receiver are needed to display the parallel HDTV transmission (at a resolution of 720p/50).
In the new HDTV format too, “Das Erste” will be provided without any encryption and at no additional cost to viewers.
