theibcdaily www.ibc.org Friday 07.09.2012 By Chris Forrester
Sky Deutschland is the first of the Sky-branded European channels to come out firmly in favour of Ultra-HDTV. Brian Sullivan, CEO at Sky-D, is very clear: “We already have an Ultra- HDTV project working here. It’s all early days but I am a great enthusiast and a big and positive supporter of Ultra High Def. “I first saw a demo about six years ago when the camera was about the size of a small car, but even when I saw that almost static picture, I was totally, totally captivated. And when it happens, I can promise you we will be one of the first. It makes sense for pay-TV to showcase this technology in the first instance.”
His comments confirm the widespread industry gossip that suggests that other parts of the News Corp pay-TV broadcasting arms are also looking at U-HD for an early
The official newspaper of IBC Europe prepares for U-HD Inside “It will be the next big thing in
broadcasting taking the consumer experience to the next level,” said Kayser. “It will make linear TV even stronger and more compelling and ensure satellite will remain the most powerful TV infrastructure in the future.”
Brian Sullivan: ‘I am a big and positive supporter of Ultra High Def’
introduction. Sullivan’s
experience included many years working at BSkyB on technology aspects of the business, notably the introduction of the Sky+ set-top box, HDTV and then 3DTV. He has been running Sky Deutschland for three years. Sullivan is not alone in planning for U-HDTV. Satellite operator SES, already carrying
Strategic alliance for Hitachi and Gearhouse
By David Fox
Hitachi has signed a strategic sales and market development agreement with international broadcast rental, systems integration, and outside broadcast company Gearhouse Broadcast. It will now have prime distribution rights to Hitachi broadcast cameras in many markets, as
well as offering an extensive rental fleet. “We are determined to become regarded as the leading supplier of 3G and future camera technologies,” said Masahiko Kato, general manager, Global Business Division of Hitachi Kokusai Electric. “New ventures, such as our relationship with Gearhouse Broadcast, are
Sky’s UK and German signals, as well as Canal Plus, is also ready. Ferdinand Kayser is CCO at SES. “It’s been at the heart of SES since its early days to deliver a large choice of linear TV in the highest possible quality,” he affirmed. “With Ultra-HD we now see our customers, some of the largest broadcasters in the world, embracing an even higher picture quality.
fundamental to support our growing presence in world broadcasting.” Gearhouse has been one
of Europe’s biggest and longest-standing users of Sony cameras, but
Gearhouse has now added Hitachi cameras to its rental fleet and has used them on numerous major sports projects for some time. “We are tremendously
impressed by their build quality and technical sophistication,” said Eamonn Dowdall, business development director
Kayser added SES would go the ‘extra mile’ for U-HDTV, and is “contributing to the development of the necessary ecosystem — both operationally and technically — in order to make Ultra-HD happen.” It is the same at SPS, the SES-owned Munich playout centre used by Sky Deutschland. Wilfred Urner is CEO at SPS. “For me the question is not so much when we might start to play it out, we could do this tomorrow. To make U-HD a success for our clients the flat screens will have to be Ultra-HD ready, and it isn’t so many years ago that we had the same problem with high definition.”
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Gearing up for a new alliance: Dowdall and Kato
at Gravity Media Group, Gearhouse’s parent company. 11.e30