Astra promises 20 additional HD channels for Europe, Spain

by Darren Murph posted Nov 27th 2006 at 6:03PM

While receiving new HD channels on American soil is certainly exciting news, we get extra giddy each time an overseas destination gets struck by HD goodness. While Poland just received another boost to its HD lineup, Europe and Spain are now set to receive 20 additional HD channels of their own. According to Ferdinand Kayser, president and general manager of Astra, Europeans will receive a bevy of new HD channels such as "Discovery, ProSieben, BBC, Sky, SAT 1, Premiere, Canal Sat and Anixe" before the year's end. While dates aren't as certain on the Spanish front, Astra still plans to deliver these same channels to Spain in the near future, and also stated that the Spanish High Definition Forum is alive and well within their country. Now, when can we North American chaps expect a similar announcement?

Filed under: Discovery-HD, Satellite, BBC HD

Tags: astra, channels, europe, hd, satellite, spain, uk

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Highly Ranked

enzo @ Nov 27th 2006 7:56PM

Since when is Spain placed outside of Europe? To be exact you should use "Central European countries" or something like that.

Neutral

Carlos @ Nov 27th 2006 10:17PM

I wonder if DishNetwork will carry some of those HD channels from Spain here in the US? I would love to see some La Liga soccer games in HD.

oh and yes, Spain is still part of Europe last time I checked, they were one of the original members of the European Union.

Neutral

Maff Mace @ Nov 28th 2006 4:57AM

Looking at the story they're including already launched channels in that 20, BBC is already broadcasting, as far as I'm aware so is Pro7, Sky have 10-12 channels (including Discovery, History, Movies, Sports etc), Germany has at least 1 other that I know of (Premiere)

Highly Ranked

HD1207 @ Dec 1st 2006 3:28PM

It`s funny because I live in central Europe and the story sounds good if you live somewhere outside Europe or at the other pond, but for me as HDTV set owner in Europe and hopefully HD-DVD owner (if there will be no second delay PR next week and I get my player shipped out) it isn`t reality. First, the channels named in the story aren`t available for everyone. For example the BBC in HD is on ASTRA 2, a satellite that you can receive in countries like Germany, Austria etc., but you need to move your dish cause most europeans receive ASTRA 1 satellite, that`swhere most of the channels are home, doesnt matter if free or pay tv. ANIXE HD has a long way to go. They show some very old movies and series in HD, but the picture isnt that good. I guess only highlight there is that they reair Roswell episodes in HD. ProSiebenSat.1 HD (two HD channnels) is just related to german speaking people and they show like Greys Anatomy, NCIS, Criminal Minds and some movies Sundays and Mondays in HD. The Quality is good and those are the two best free tv channels showing HD content so far in europe. The other named channels are pay TV channels, like Sky (again ASTRA 2) and PREMIERE (ASTRA). I guess the biggest HD supporter in Europe for Pay TV is Discovery. Every Pay TV which goes HD in Europe gets Discovery first on bord. So, I would like to see some more channels in HD like he said but til the end of the year?...wow he loaded up big man, hopefully he can count days, 30 left.

I guess he meant SD channels cause there are a few on the run, like Comedy Central from you US guys and another sports network, all free to air, but HD..... .

Well, HD-DVD coming out next week and you already can buy HD-DVD titles on european Amazon, I guess that will push HD in Europe to the next step.

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