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 ALL EYES ON TPS HD SERVICE
In February 2006, France’s TPS (Télévision Par Satellite) pay-TV platform successfully launched its HD package, which now boasts over 21,000 subscribers.
The HD offer includes sports, with coverage of the English Premier League and the German Bundesliga, and cinema with the latest film releases from Europe and the US, plus drama and entertainment programmes.
TPS is the first pay-TV group in France to launch an HD offer. The company provides a bouquet service of programming across France, offering more than 200 channels. It is also trialing video to mobile solutions with DVB-H norm. TPS currently has 1,750,000 subscribers, via various media, led by satellite.
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EUTELSAT PROVIDES A PLATFORM FOR DIRECT 8 EXPANSION
Eutelsat has signed a multi-satellite agreement for free-to-air broadcasting with French general entertainment channel, Direct 8. Launched in March 2005, by the Bolloré Group through France’s Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) network, the channel aims to consolidate its audience in France and expand within Europe and Africa.
Broadcasting via HOT BIRD™, Direct 8 can now be received by 2.8 million homes in France, as well as up to 40 million direct-to-home satellite homes in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. A second platform, on W3A, provides coverage over sub-Saharan Africa. The signal will also be available in Africa for redistribution by terrestrial networks.
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 LUXURY 24/7 WITH LUXE.TV
For viewers who wish to immerse themselves in round-the-clock luxury, the perfect channel, LUXE.TV, launched free-to-air via the HOT BIRD™ and W3A satellites in June.
Devised by Jean Stock, who already has a long career in broadcasting in Europe, the channel claims to be ‘the first in the world devoted entirely to luxury.’ Programming consists of magazines and news features, entirely produced in High Definition by teams based in 20 luxury capitals around the world, including Paris, New York, Tokyo and Dubai, ensuring diverse, multi-cultural content. Themes focus on six essential aspects of the world of luxury: Fashion & Beauty; Jewelry & Clocks; Ideal Home; Sport & Leisure; Hotels & Gastronomy; and Cars, Planes & Boats.
LUXE.TV is broadcast simultaneously in both Standard Digital and High Definition, on a 24-hour basis. The channel currently transmits in French and German, and plans to expand internationally into other markets.
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EUTELSAT PARTNERS IN FIRST HD DTT TESTS IN PARIS, MARSEILLES AND LYON
This summer, Eutelsat partnered with TDF to transmit HDTV MPEG-4 content to Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) transmitters in Paris, Marseilles and Lyon. The tests validated the full HD broadcasting chain to DTT homes from encoding through to reception.
HD DTT tests began with live coverage of tennis from Roland Garros, by France Télévisions. HD content, including World Cup football, was also provided by TF1, M6 and Canal Plus.
Eutelsat provided capacity on ATLANTIC BIRD™ 3, which already delivers France’s five DTT multiplexes, to over-the-air transmitters.
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 AXN SCI-FI AND CRIME CHANNELS FOR EASTERN EUROPE VIA W2
Viewers in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Romania can thrill and chill to the horrors of two new thematic channels from AXN Europe, part of Sony Pictures Television International.
AXN Crime, dedicated to criminal investigation and mystery, and AXN Sci-Fi, offering the best of science-fiction, are now broadcast to cable networks via Eutelsat’s W2 satellite at 16º East. Broadcasting 18 hours a day, with soundtracks available in Bulgarian, Hungarian, Romanian and Polish, the channels are encrypted in PowerVu and uplinked to the satellite from Eutelsat’s teleport in Rambouillet.
“Efficient, flexible, and cost-effective distribution is one of the key parts of our European growth strategy,” said Robert Billeci, SPTI’s Senior Vice President, Technical Operations, International Networks. “As we continue to expand our international networks business, we’re pleased to be able to use the advanced broadcast capabilities of Eutelsat.”
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MAX TV TAKES CAPACITY ON W2
Digital Cable Systems (DCS) of Romania has leased capacity on the W2 satellite for Max TV, a pay-TV platform delivered direct-to-home (DTH) and via cable systems in Romania.
Max TV joins 11 other Romanian channels on W2, as well as pay-TV platforms operating out of Albania, Bulgaria and Serbia, consolidating Eutelsat’s W2 video neighbourhood.
DCS also aims to target the one million homes in Romania connected to small and mediumsized analogue cable networks, by feeding cable headends.
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