[Satnews] SES S.A. (NYSE Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG), in collaboration with European Culture Channel ARTE, will be broadcasting the Le Corsaire ballet, live, in Ultra HD from the Vienna State Opera via the orbital position Astra 19.2 degrees East—the Ultra HD live broadcast will start at 19:00 CET on April 2nd.

The ballet will be broadcast Free-To-Air (FTA) on UHD1 by Astra/HD+. The Ultra HD demo channel was launched jointly by HD+ and ASTRA in September 2015. The show can be received with Ultra HD screens equipped with HEVC decoders. SES Platform Services, a subsidiary of SES, will manage the live-encoding and satellite uplink.

Artistic rendition of the Astra satellite.

“Broadcasting in Ultra HD is becoming increasingly relevant for broadcasters, and we are delighted that ARTE has approached us to broadcast the Le Corsaire Ballet live in Ultra HD,” said Ferdinand Kayser, Chief Commercial Officer at SES. “The SES group is the ideal one-stop-shop for broadcasters when it comes to Ultra HD initiatives, because we can provide both premium satellite capacity and solutions such as a seamless end-to-end Ultra HD playout service.”

“The high resolution of Ultra HD emphasizes the visual quality of the ballet. The sets, the dancers’ movements and their costumes look very vivid from every angle. With this pilot project, ARTE underlines its position as an innovative broadcaster, delivering programmes in the highest quality available to a wide audience,” said Alain Le Diberder, Program Director at ARTE.