Globecast is expanding their partnership with Eutelsat Communications to create a new HOTBIRD platform in order to satisfy the growing move from SD to HD in the market.

In addition to expanded HOTBIRD capacity, the platform also includes ground segment services with connectivity to Globecast’s fiber network, Globecast Backbone Network, as well as to its media management capabilities.

German international public broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) is the first customer to take advantage, launching its flagship English language HD TV channel via this new Globecast service. This includes end-to-end channel contribution from DW’s facilities in Berlin to Globecast in Paris and uplinking from there. Globecast has worked with DW for many years, distributing their channels in both Asia and the Middle East.

Samuel Lemercier, Strategic Projects Director, said the company has seen increasing demand for capacity across Europe from west to east as the migration to HD on HOTBIRD continues to grow. TRT Arabi and Belarus 24 partnering with the firm for HD distribution earlier this year are prime examples. In order to meet this increasing demand, Globecast has launched this new platform with Eutelsat, significantly increasing the company's DVBS2 capacity — suitable for HD and UHD for free-to-air DTH or distribution to affiliates — across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. He continued by stating this relationship with Eutelsat is central to the Globecast channel distribution business and the operational model has long since been proven to provide the quality of service demanded by customers. Using DVB-S2 allows us to be more efficient in the management of transponder capacity and therefore more cost-effective. This means the firm can efficiently support the ongoing migration to HD and to offer more bandwidth as and when required.

Hubert Czaja, Head of Distribution Systems, Deutsche Welle, noted that the company has worked with Globecast for quite some time and trust both their business and technical expertise and the quality of service they provide. The firm 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 the company's viewers.

Aymeric Genty, Regional VP for France and Overseas, Benelux, the United Kingdom, the Nordics and Israel for Eutelsat, noted that this partnership with Globecast 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 neighborhood‘s unrivaled 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.

Lemercier said,