England win in High Def
It’s always good to see England win. But it’s even better to see it in High Definition. Last night (June 21st) plasma TV company Pioneer teamed up with satellite channel Euro 1080 – Europe’s only HD broadcaster – to show the England v Croatia game to a bunch of journos in Barcelona (and yes Tech Digest was there – it’s a hard life.)
The match, which was broadcast on Euro 1080’s special event channel on the Astra satellite, was displayed on Pioneer’s latest fifth generation, high-def compatible plasma screens which were also launched at the event. Euro 1080 also used the Pioneer press event to announce that it is re-branding its consumer TV channel with the more friendly name of HD1.
The channel, which is gradually scrambling its content, currently has around 4,000 to 5,000 viewers. Just introduced is a one-off subsription cost of 200 Euros (for viewing until the end of 2010).
“We are hoping to reach between 400,000 and 500,000 viewers by 2006,” says Euro 1080’s Head of Marketing and Sales, Kris Verbeeck.
