Euro1080 was the first commercial broadcaster in Europe to broadcast full-time
high-definition television
High-definition television (HDTV) describes a television or video system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since at least 1933; in more recent times, it ref ...
(HDTV) content. It was founded by
Gabriel Fehervari
Gabriel Fehervari (born Wilrijk, 1960) is a Belgian businessman and was the CEO of the former ''Alfacam Group'', which consisted of three divisions: Alfacam, Euro1080 and Eurolinx. Alfacam was declared bankrupt on 19 April 2013. He is the son o ...
in 2004 and is owned by Alfacam, of which declared bankrupt in 2013.
The name originates from the 1080 lines of vertical resolution in the signal broadcast, which is
1080i50
In high-definition television (HDTV) and video display technology, 1080i is a video display format with 1080 lines of vertical resolution and interlaced scanning method. This format was once a standard in HDTV. It was particularly used for broad ...
- 1920 x 1080 at an interlaced frame rate of 50 Hz. The signal uses
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital, originally synonymous with Dolby AC-3 (see below), is the name for a family of audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. Called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1995, it is lossy compression (except for Dolby Tr ...
5.1 sound.
The headquarters and studios are located in Belgium at the Eurocam Media Center. The parent company of Euro1080 is the Belgium-based Alfacam Group.
Euro1080 began broadcasting on 1 January 2004 from the
Astra 1H
Astra 1H is one of the Astra communications satellites owned and operated by SES.
History
SES ordered its Hughes 601HP satellite, in 1995 for Astra 1H.
Launch
Astra-1H was launched on 18 June 1999 at 01:49:30 UTC, by a Proton-K / DM-2 ...
satellite at
19.2° east and was
free to air
Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscript ...
during its first few months. Thereafter, a €200 conditional access card was required to watch the flagship channel HD1.
In addition to HD1, whose content is primarily HDTV showcasing for regular users, a second channel was soon created, HD2 focusing on live and recorded HDTV broadcasts of special event for selected theatres. Euro1080 currently broadcasts HD1 and HD3 on the following satellite:
*
Eutelsat
Eutelsat S.A. is a French satellite operator. Providing coverage over the entire European continent, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas, it has been the world's third-largest satellite operator in terms of revenues. Its subsidiary E ...
W3A at 7°E, 10.880 MHz, DVB-S2, QPSK, Symbol rate 13.333 Mbit/s, Vertical, FEC 4/5, MPEG4.
It is also possible to receive it from a growing number of cable operators.
Two channels have been temporarily removed recently:
* HD2 (previously HDevents or Hde): broadcasts premium events in
pay-per-view
Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast.
Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...
.
* HD5 (timesharing with HD2): promotional channel, broadcasting a six-minute informative video about HDTV and what Euro1080 is, as well a brief glimpse of the previous day's footage.
A new channel was launched in 2008:
*
HD3: Culture with music. (HD1 then became a sports channel.)
In October 2005, HD1 and HD2 simulcast in both MPEG-4 and MPEG-2. This dual encoding lasted until 2007.
Telenet
Telenet was an American commercial packet-switched network which went into service in 1975. It was the first FCC-licensed public data network in the United States. Various commercial and government interests paid monthly fees for dedicated lin ...
, the main cable operator in
Flanders
Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...
, confirmed as part of its launch announcement of "Telenet Digital TV" on 16 June 2005 that it would sell HDTV set-top-boxes from June 2006.
Since July 2005, the cable operator Integan has broadcast HDTV in the outskirts of the city of
Antwerp
Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...
, in partnership with Euro1080.
On 1 October 2006 Euro1080 started a new digital culture channel named EXQI. The first target audience was the Flemish and
Dutch
Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
** Dutch people as an ethnic group ()
** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship ()
** Dutch language ()
* In specific terms, i ...
market, but the channel has expansion plans to more than 10 channels for the major European countries.
On 7 January 2007 Euro1080 switched to
MPEG-4 AVC
Advanced Video Coding (AVC), also referred to as H.264 or MPEG-4 Part 10, is a video compression standard based on block-oriented, motion-compensated coding. It is by far the most commonly used format for the recording, compression, and d ...
for its satellite broadcasts. MPEG-2 broadcasts for HD1 were switched off on 1 January 2008.
References
External links
Official web siteEuro1080 press announcement
Euro 1080 channels
{{CATV Europe
Satellite television
High-definition television
Television networks in Belgium
Dutch-language television networks
French-language television networks
Belgian companies established in 2004
Mass media companies established in 2004
Television channels and stations established in 2004