Published:
20-Nov-07
Spanish pay-TV group Sogecable is to kick-start the country's HDTV market with launch of HD version of premium channel Canal Plus early next year. Canal Plus HD will debut in January 2008, on Sogecable's satellite platform Digital Plus, initially in a 'soft launch'. Details and date of the full commercial launch are yet to be confirmed. The HD content will be available through the 'iPlus', the MPEG-4-HD-ready PVR box (manufactured by Philips and Thomson) introduced by Digital Plus in August.
Our take...
Spain will be the last major European pay-TV market to introduce HDTV; nearly every other European market introduced HD channels in the first half of 2006. Prior to this announcement, only a trial channel and a regional DTT HD channel were operating in Spain. In October, SES Astra and Sogecable announced an agreement to lease an additional transponder on the 19.2˚ East orbital slot to allow Sogecable/Digital Plus extra capacity for its HD simulcasts.
Sogecable claims that 21 per cent of its existing subscribers have HD-ready TV sets (a much higher proportion than that of all Spanish households – at around 13 per cent as of mid 2007) and could thus enjoy the HD channel. Based on forecast growth of HD-display penetration in Spain and uptake of premium HD tiers among other European pay-TV operators, we believe a mini-package on Digital Plus could gain 375,000 subscribers by end-2011.
Spain,
