Globecast and Eutelsat launch new Hotbird platform with Deutsche Welle as first customer

International distribution firm Globecast has announced an extension of its partnership with Eutelsat Communications on the creation of a new Hotbird platform.

Globecast says that the new platform is designed to “satisfy the growing move from SD to HD in the market”.

“We’ve seen increasing demand for capacity across Europe from west to east as the migration to HD on Hotbird continues to grow,” said Samuel Lemercier, strategic projects director. “TRT Arabi and Belarus 24 partnering with us for HD distribution earlier this year are prime examples. In order to meet this increasing demand, we have launched this new platform with Eutelsat, significantly increasing our DVBS2 capacity – suitable for HD and UHD for free-to-air DTH or distribution to affiliates – across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.”

The new platform also includes ground segment services with connectivity to Globecast’s fibre network, GlobecastBackbone Network, as well as to its media management capabilities.

German PSB Deutsche Welle (DW) has become the first customer of the service with the launch of its new flagship English-language HD TV channel. This includes end-to-end channel contribution from DW’s facilities in Berlin to Globecast in Paris and uplinking from there.  

Hubert Czaja, head of distribution systems at Deutsche Welle, said: “We have worked with Globecast for quite some time and trust both their business and technical expertise and the quality of service they provide. We moved to HD across Asia several years ago and the time is now right to make the move in Europe to increase image quality for our viewers. We’re very pleased to extend our relationship with both Eutelsat and Globecast.”

Aymeric Genty, regional vice-president for france and overseas, Benelux, the United Kingdom, the Nordics and Israel for Eutelsat, added: “Our partnership withGlobecast is very important as HOTBIRD continues to experience growth in the HD market, notably for free-to-air and internationally renowned channels benefiting from this neighbourhood‘s unrivalled reach in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. This new platform provides cost-effective HD – and UHD – distribution as channels look to increase viewer engagement and satisfy the ever-growing demand for HD.”