Digitisation gets faster
The total number of digital homes in the country now stands at 19.96 million, up 580,000 from the end of October. The speed of digitisation is also accelerating, with 400,000 households switching to digital TV during October.
According to the latest figures, 55.7% of all German TV homes now have at least one digital receiver, be it DVB-T, IPTV, satellite or cable. Germany currently has 35.86 million television households.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 12th December 2011
Strong interest in DTT
A planned expansion of the DTT line-up in the German region Hanover/Braunschweig has attracted strong interest by German TV broadcasters.
Local media authority NLM has received six applications for the four DTT slots which are to be allocated as part of a new DTT multiplex for commercial TV channels.
According to NLM, the applications were submitted by entertainment channels Anixe and Das Vierte, Christian family channel Bibel TV, home-shopping broadcasters QVC and HSE24 and Volks.TV (V.TV), the new local TV channel planned by former RTL head Helmut Thoma.
NLM has been able to allocate an additional slot in the existing third commercial DTT multiplex and now there are five slots available for the six applicants.
The media authority says it wants to work towards the applicants finding a voluntary agreement on how to share the capacity. If no such agreement can be reached, then NLM will have to make a decision.
NLM will grant the permission to use the DTT slots at its meeting on the 24th November 2011.
Source: Rapid TV News
Item added: 17th October 2011
Media Broadcast HbbTV barker channel
The broadcast service provider Media Broadcast demonstrated the HbbTV standard over DVB-T during the Medientagen in Munich.
Several online services could be reached from the dedicated barker channel. They included the VOD portal from redbull.tv, content from Süddeutsche Zeitung TV (a German newspaper), the HbbTV offer from home shopping channel QVC and the demo-VOD portal from Media Broadcast.
The technical basis of the innovative system solution is the use of a barker channel broadcasting the data stream of a signalling data (at 200 kbps) pointing to the text, audio and video content on the internet.
Such a special barker channel can be broadcast over all platforms including satellite, cable and digital terrestrial.
“The use of a barker channel for the coupling of TV and internet offers content providers entirely new possibilities,” said Henrik Rinnert, the head of the television business unit, Media Broadcast. “We not only improve the discoverability of hybrid web and TV services on the TV, but we also create especially for niche and local channels an attractive way to reach the viewers. We therefore make an important contribution to flexible expansion of TV services and set new and important impetus to the distribution strategy of content providers.”
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 17th October 2011
sixx extends DTT coverage
German women's channel sixx will be available via DTT in the German federal states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein from the 1st August 2011.
The channel was the only contender for the capacity offered by tender by local media authority MA HSH. The licence to use the slot, previously used by quiz channel 9Live, has been granted for 10 years.
In Hamburg sixx will use DTT channel K46, in Hamburg/Lübeck K59 and in Kiel K57.
Source: Rapid TV News
Item added: 1st August 2011
DTT channels make way for DAB
On the 12th July DTT network operator Media Broadcast will perform a frequency change affecting all TV and radio services on the DTT channels 5, 7 and 59. The VHF channels are being moved to make way for digital terrestrial radio services on DAB+.
At the same time the German women’s channel sixx will become available on DTT channel 56 in Berlin. The slot was previously occupied by quiz channel 9Live.
Source: Rapid TV News
Item added: 11th July 2011
New DTT service for Hamburg region
The media authority for the region of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein has opened a tender for a new DTT services.
The licence which covers the Hamburg, Lübeck and Kiel areas would start on the 1st August 2011 and continue for 10 years.
Broadcasters can tender for the 24 hour slot which is currently occupied by quiz channel 9Live.
Applications must be submitted by 1500 on the 13th July.
Source: MAHSH website
Item added: 4th July 2011
First German tests for DVB-T ‘handover’
Tests have been taking place with technology designed to ensure the continuity of mobile reception of DVB-T signals in Germany.
For coaches, cars and campers digital television has long been the standard and many people use DVB-T in connection with portable devices such as USB sticks, laptops and GPS systems to watch television on the go.
When on the move, the reception changes between different transmitters with different frequencies. This still requires a manual switch or a new channel scan. To solve this problem and simplify the mobile reception of TV channels in Germany the broadcasters and the automotive industry have developed the so-called handover method for DVB-T reception on the move. Using additional signalling, receivers will automatically tune in to the best available signal of a channel, a method reminiscent of the RDS signal for FM radio stations.
The pilot was organised by the German TV Platform in cooperation with IRT (the technology institute of the German public broadcasters), Hessischer Rundfunk (HR) and BMW (on behalf of the Association of the Automotive Industry, VDA).
The system can also be applied to DVB-T2 services.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 23rd May 2011
Unitymedia box uses MHP
The latest HD receiver from Unitymedia uses the MHP application interface, with an MHP engine supplied by Alticast. Applications have been developed by the Belgian Zappware company. The unit also has a built in hard drive but the PVR functionality is to be downloaded later.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 23rd May 2011
Digital TV in nearly 50% of German homes
The number German digital homes reached 17.7 million by the 30th April 2011, close to a 50% milestone, according to research firm AGF/GfK.
Digital homes are defined as those obtaining their TV pictures via digital terrestrial (DVB-T), digital cable (DVB-C), digital satellite DTH (DVB-S/S2) or IPTV.
Of the 35.86 million television homes in the country, 49.4% now watch digital TV, up from 47.8% on the 1st January 2011 and 41.4% as of the 1st January 2010.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 16th May 2011
N-tv extends DVB-T contract
The German broadcaster n-tv has extended its contract with Media Broadcast Europe for the supply of DVB-T (DTT) broadcasts in the Berlin/Brandenburg region until 2014
N-tv has been broadcast on the DVB-T network in the region since 2005.
Source: Telecompaper
Item added: 7th February 2011
36 DTT channels available in Berlin
With the addition of the German music channel iMusic1to the DTT platform on the 1st January, the number of channels available to Berliners will increase to 36.
The music channel will be available on channel 56 from two transmitter sites, Alexanderplatz (10 kW) and Schäferberg (20 kW).
The channel is already available via Astra and Eutelsat’s Hot bird satellites and also available in digital tiers on most German cable operators, including Kabel Deutschland, Kabel BW and Unitymedia, as well as in the Kabelkiosk offer.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 27th December 2010
iPad and iPhone DTT hotspot
The German firm Equinux has announced the introduction of tizi, which it calls “Europe’s first mobile TV Hotspot for iPad and iPhone”. The tizi device delivers DVB-T channels directly to the iPad or iPhone over WiFi.
An integrated Hotspot allows tizi to deliver the TV signal to iPad and iPhone using tizi’s pre-configured WiFi network. Battery life is good for 3.5 hours of watching TV. The replaceable Li-Ion battery can be recharged via a free USB port on a Laptop or using an iPad power adapter. During use, an LED status light displays the current battery level.
Tizi supports the unencrpyted European free-to-air TV standard (DVB-T/DTT/TNT) and is only available in European countries. HD services such as Freeview HD (UK) and DVB-T2 are not yet supported.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 1st November 2010
HbbTV launches on DTT
Two German public broadcasters, Bayerische Rundfunk in Bavaria and ZDF, have launched hybrid TV services using the HbbTV standard on digital terrestrial broadcasting across the region.
HbbTV allows viewers to access additional information and content obtained from the Internet by pressing the Red Button on their remote control. To access the service viewers will need a connected TV set that complies with the standard and a broadband internet subscription.
The signalling for the HbbTV service is broadcast across Germany on ZDF’s DVB-T network. In Bavaria the HbbTV functionality is also available on ARD (Das Erste), Bayerisches Fernsehen, Arte, BR-alpha, Phoenix and EinsPlus. Additionally, HbbTV is also available for HR Fernsehen in the Franken region and for MDR in the state of Thuringia as well as for SWR Fernsehen and EinsExtra in Southern Bavaria
The first DVB-T receivers with HbbTV are expected to come on the market before the end of the year.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 18th October 2010
More DVB-T2 tests in Munich
Bayerische Rundfunk (BR), the public broadcaster for Bavaria, has launched a DVB-T2 test transmission in the city of Munich. The broadcasts of both SD and HD content are from the Freimann transmitter using programme material from Das Erste HD, Das Erste and Bayerische Fernsehen.
The transmissions which are for test purposes only are Free to air and available on channel 50. The BR tests follow earlier transmissions in Munich from IRT.
The tests will be extended to a three transmitter Single Frequency Network during 2011
Main source: Broadband TV News
Original item: Digitalfernsehen.de
Item added: 4th October 2010
DVB-T2 rollout possible from 2015
Lower-Saxony has announced that it wants to be the first German regional state to introduce the new digital terrestrial television technology DVB-T2, which provides 50% more capacity than DVB-T.
The enhanced system will double the number of available TV channels and, for the first time, enable HDTV via DTT which has so far only been offered on cable, satellite and IPTV in Germany.
The DVB-T2 deployment would be possible from 2015, Andreas Fischer, head of Lower-Saxony's local media authority NLM, told German news-wire agency dpa. "The aim is, of course, that it will début in Lower-Saxony."
Since autumn 2009, NLM has been operating a DVB-T2 pilot project along with partners at two locations in Lower-Saxony
More than 26 million DVB-T boxes have been sold in Germany since the launch of services in 2004.
Source: Rapid TV News
Item added: 20th September 2010
DTT homes reach over 4 million
According to the latest Digitalisierungsbericht 2010, 4.167 million German homes now receive DVB-T transmissions, reports Broadband TV News.
Overall 23.1 million of Germany’s 37.5 million TV households now have access to digital television, up 6.7% from last year.
Cable is still the most popular means of delivery with 51.4% of households using it, of which 37.8% (7.3 million) of them receive digital programmes.
Satellite delivery is the most popular digital platform with 12.6 million households.
Main source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 10th September 2010
QVC Germany goes terrestrial
The German shopping channels QVC and Channel 21 have acquired digital terrestrial TV capacity in the Rhein-Main area in the state of Hesse. The capacity for QVC was awarded by the areas media authority and is in fact the allocation initially used by Eurosport.
Euronews was another contender for the capacity but withdrew its application during the licensing process.
Channel 21, the former RTL Shop, has entered into an agreement with the regional private broadcaster Rhein-Main-TV to share channel capacity on their terrestrial channel.
The two channels will be available to around 2.3 to 3 million viewers in the area surrounding the cities of Frankfurt am Main and Wiesbaden. Viewers in this region already have access to 24 digital terrestrial channels, including the main channels from private broadcasters RTL and ProSiebenSat.1.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 28th June 2010
Solaris wins more EU-licences for DVB-SH service
Solaris Mobile now has licences for their DVB-SH (Satellite to Handheld) service in several countries including France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Finland.
Solaris is a joint venture owned by SES Astra and Eutelsat, set up to deliver mobile TV, satellite digital radio and mobile broadband to much of Europe.
An 18 year licence to operate Mobile Services in France, Sweden and Germany was awarded in May 2010, which, together with those already awarded for Finland, Luxembourg, Italy and Slovenia brings the total to seven.
These licences allow Solaris Mobile’s hybrid network to be deployed within the EU and will pave the way for a range of broadcast and broadband services including TV, radio, voice, data and other broadband services to mobile devices.
Steve Maine, CEO of Solaris is reported as saying that “In the coming months, Solaris Mobile will be engaged in setting up additional demonstration trial platforms for TV broadcasting, radio and data services in certain other markets. These activities will demonstrate the benefits of the solution offered by Solaris which include immediate satellite coverage of the area opening up new opportunities to deliver next generation broadband and broadcast services to mobile devices”.
Source: Rapid TV News 2010
Item added: 21st June 2010
TV licence fee system to change
The licence fee for public TV and radio broadcast reception in Germany is to change into a flat-rate universal household payment, reports Rapid TV News. The decision to change the system was announced on the 9th June in Berlin. Previously payment of a fee was dependant on the existence of suitable reception device/devices in a household. The change which will come into effect from the 1st January 2013 will mean that the new fee has to be paid independent of the existence and type of reception devices being used.
As a result of the change, ARD, ZDF and national public radio broadcaster Deutschlandradio will come in to line with cultural and educational institutions such as schools, universities and theatres for which every citizen has to pay a contribution, whether they use them or not. The exact fee still has to be determined, but it is understood that it won't exceed the current level of €17.98 per month.
As every household will have to pay the fee, the new system also puts an end to the much criticised detective-style investigations by licence fee collection organisation GEZ to uncover non-payers.
Source: Rapid TV News
Item added: 11th June 2010
Licences issued for the 800 MHz band
The Telecom operators T-Mobile, Vodafone and Telefonica O2 have all been issued licences for their own 20MHz chunk of the 800MHz band, following auctions of the ‘digital dividend’. The ‘digital dividend’ is the spectrum released following the switch of TV services in Germany from analogue to digital. The spectrum will be used for the roll-out of mobile broadband services.
At the same time spectrum in the 1.8, 2.0 and 2.6 GHz bands was also auctioned.
Before the 800MHz band can be fully utilised, TV services using the same spectrum in nearby countries must be moved out of the band. This should happen by the end of 2012.in line with European Commission plan.
Source: Reuters
Item added: 31st May 2010
More DTT channels for Hamburg
The media authorities for Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein (MA HSH) has awarded four DTT licences, valid for 10 years, to commercial broadcasters in Hamburg.
The channels Tele 5 and Das Vierte, as well as home shopping channel QVC, will each get a 24 hour channel, while Euronews and Channel 21 (the former RTL Shop) will share a channel. These additional channels will bring the number of DTT channels available in the Hamburg area to 28.
DTT licences were also issued to das Vierte to broadcast to the cities of Kiel and Luenbeck, where it will replace Eurosport.
Source: MA HSH website
Item added: 30th April 2010
DVB-T2 trial in Germany
Germany’s national DTT operator, Media Broadcast, is assessing equipment for its DVB-T2 trial and has recently chosen T-VIPS Advanced DTT Solutions to link DVB-T headends with DVB-T2 modulators. The choice was made after extensive testing of the equipment which will be used in the Single Frequency Network enabled trial in Lower Saxony The equipment is already in operation at the trial sites of Lueneberg and Rosengarten.
Source: Broadbandtvnews
Item added: 29th March 2010
KDG to use DVB-C2
The chairman of the DVB-C2 technical module and the head of new technologies at Kabel Deutschland, Christoph Schaaf, said, during his presentation at the DVB World 2010 conference ,that his company plans to switch to the new DVB-C2 transmission on their cable system.
DVB-C2 allows bandwidth savings of at least 30% when compared to DVB-C used today by digital cable platforms. With the new system and MPEG-4 coding it is now possible to fit up to twelve HDTV services in a single 8 MHz channel.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 15th March 2010
DTT radio capacity re-allocated for DTV
A tender to offer radio services on the DTT platform in the Federal states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein has been cancelled due to lack of interest and is to be re-offered for DTV use.
Broadcasters interested in the licence must submit an application by the 19th March and according to the media regulator, interest in the new DTT licence is very strong.
Source: Rapid TV News
Item added: 8th March 2010
More DVB-H services possible
German media authorities are to decide by mid-March on re-launching DVB-H services.
Before the tender for a 10 year platform licence is released the authorities are asking for interested parties to register this interest with them by the end of February.
Rapid TV News added this quote from ZAK on their website “We have always stressed that only concrete declarations of interest can open the door for a new launch of DVB-H,” ZAK chairman Thomas Langheinrich said in Stuttgart. “This means that interested parties must have reached preliminary agreements with DVB-H network operators, broadcasters and mobile network operators clearly describing how the planned collaboration would be realised and how much strain the economic side can take. A system which is not financially viable will not be able to contribute to variety.”
Source: Rapid TV News
Item added: 25th January 2010
Six applications for spectrum auction
The German regulator BNA has received 6 applications for the frequency auction which is to be held in the spring of 2010. The auction includes frequencies in the 800 MHz, 1.8 GHz, 2 GHz and 2.6 GHz ranges which are to be used for mobile telecommunication services.
BNA will now evaluate the applications and decide if the companies can participate in the auction. The regulator would not provide the names of the companies, but it is expected that the four existing mobile operators ( E-Plus, O2 Germany, T-Mobile Germany, Vodafone Germany) are among them.
Source: Telecompaper
Item added: 25th January 2010
IRT transmits DVB-T2 test signal
The German technical institute of the public broadcaster, IRT has been transmitting
a standards compliant DVB-T2 test signal on UHF channel 43 since early December.
The effective radiated power (ERP) of the transmission is 1kW and the signals are being transmitted from the Freimann area of North East of Munich and cover a 5 km radius from the site.
The test transmissions are being used to examine the mobility, robustness and data rate management of the system as well as to determine practicable parameter settings for coverage in both indoor and outdoor situations.
The current modulation is 256 QAM, the guard interval is 1/128 at a code rate of 5/6 and an 8k FFT.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 14th December 2009
Viseo+ launch in Leipzig/Halle
RTL and Eutelsat have announced that their pay-DTT service in the Leipzig/Halle region will be launched on the 7th December.
The new service, called Viseo+, offers viewers 6 television programme services (RTL, RTL II, VOX, Super RTL, RTL Crime, and Passion). All services are Conax encrypted although only two are pay services, RTL Crime and Passion.
The services use MPEG-4 AVC compression technology as previously announced. A similar service was launched in Stuttgart on 15 October 2009.
Source: Rapid TV News
Item added: 23rd November 2009
More Local DVB-T in Saxony
The Saxon State Institute for Commercial broadcasting, SLM, has issued licences to broadcast local commercial DTT services in five more regions of Saxony. This follows the recent successful experiment with DTT local broadcasting in Leipzig.
The licences are for single multiplexes with the first being in Dresden, awarded to Bibel TV, Jay Jay TV as well as local channels, Dresden Eins, kanal 8-Dresden, kanal 8-Saxony and kanal 8-Immobilien, (a real estate channel) and the religious radio station Radio Horeb.
In Chemnitz, licenses have been issued to broadcast Sachsen Fernsehen Chemnitz, kanal 8-Saxony and kanal 8-Immobilien, Bibel TV and Radio Horeb.
In Zwickau broadcast services from TeleVision Zwickau, kanal 8-Saxony and kanal 8-Immobilien, Bibel TV and Radio Horeb will be available.
The towns of Plauen and Auebach will have access to services from Vogtland Regional Fernsehen and Bibel TV.
Finally in the city of Görlitz viewers will be able to access TV services from Euro-Regional TV and Bibel TV.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 2nd November 2009
ProSieben to launch prepaid mobile Internet and free DTT
The commercial broadcaster ProSieben is to launch a mobile data service on the German Vodafone mobile network. The prepaid service will be called ProSieben Web & TV Stick and is developed by ProSiebenSat.1's multimedia division SevenOne Intermedia and Vodafone.
The service will offer mobile data access via UMTS and free mobile TV via DVB-T plus free access to the mobile portal of Prosieben.
Source: advanced-television.com
Items added: 26th October 2009
Leipzig gets local DTT network
Mugler AG has been commissioned by Bundesnetzagentur to build and maintain the technical infrastructure of a local DVB-T network in the city of Leipzig according to the media authority for the German state of Saxony (SLM).
Over the past year SLM has organized trials of low power broadcasting in Leipzig to see what would be required to launch a regular service.
Mugler AG will now build a network of five low power transmitters capable of covering 200,000 households in the city.
In December Leizpig will also see the launch of the Viseo+ platform with six channels from the RTL Group on a local DVB-T transmitter.
Source: Broadband TV News
Items added: 26th October 2009
Digital dividend auction in Q2 2010
The German telecommunications regulator BNA is to hold a mobile frequency auction, which will include digital dividend frequencies, in the second quarter of 2010.
The digital dividend will consist of 60MHz just above 800MHz. The 60MHz slot will be divided into six blocks of 2x5MHz however controversy is already growing about who will be able to bid for licences. These frequencies could be used for providing mobile broadband services in rural areas that will close the gaps in current broadband coverage.
The European Commission recently raised complaints about the proposed organisation of and restrictions to the biding.
Source: Telecompaper
Item added: 19th October 2009
RTL starts Pay-DTT service
The new terrestrial platform to be launched on DTT by RTL is a joint operation with Eutelsat Visavision and is to be called Viseo plus. The service is planned to start on the 15th October in the Stuttgart area and in early December in the cities of Leipzig and Halle in the eastern part of the country.
RTL channels, RTL, Vox, RTL II, Super RTL, RTL Crime and RTL Passion will be available on the Conax encrypted network and coded in MPEG-4, H.264.AVC.
Smart cards can be enabled for a total viewing period of 12 months, after which a subscription fee of €2.99 a month will be payable for the two pay channels RTL Crime and RTL Passion in the Viseo plus Extra package. The three other RTL channels remain free-to-view.
Main source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 12th October 2009
T-Mobile to launch DVB-H services
Deutsche Telekom is planning to launch a DVB-H mobile TV service next year according to a report from Broadband TV News.
Telekom’s mobile division T-mobile already operates a UMTS mobile TV network and has the TV rights for the German football Bundesliga. Some reports say that the UMTS network becomes very congested when football events are being broadcast and that transmitting the service using DVB-H would clearly ease this problem.
Previous attempts to launch DVB-H services in Germany have failed and it is reported that the operator does not want to confirm the launch of DVB-H services at the moment but is exploring all possibilities.
Main source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 6th October 2009
Nine Cable operators adopt DVB-C2
Nine of Western Europe’s leading cable operators have chosen to adopt the new DVB-C2 cable delivery standard.
The operators are Kabel Baden Württemberg, Unitymedia, Kabel Deutschland (Germany), Ziggo (the Netherlands), ONO (Spain), Com Hem (Sweden), Numericable (France), YouSee (Denmark) and ZON (Portugal), who in total serve 22 million households.
Virgin Media (UK), Canal Digital (Scandinavia) and UPC (Multiple territories) have not included themselves in the agreement and say that they have no plans to switch from DVB-C2 at present. Virgin Media have been reported as saying that unlike some operators they do not have a capacity problem at the moment and whilst they support DVB-C2, have no need to switch at present
Main source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 18th September 2009
DTT penetration reaches 11.3%
According to the Digitalisation Report 2009 published by the regulatory authorities (ALM), DTT penetration has reached 11.3% (4.2 million) of German TV households, an increase of 300,000 on the previous year. In all 55% of German households now access digital programmes from one or more of the delivery platforms.
DTT penetration is highest in regions where both commercial and public broadcast services are available.
Main source: ALM website
Item added: 14th September 2009
ProSiebenSat.1 to stay on DTT platform
Media Broadcast and ProSiebenSat.1 have signed an agreement to allow Sat.1 services to be broadcast on the DTT platform.
Five television services from ProSiebenSat.1 will be made accessible to over 20 million viewers in 27cities.
Digital TV is available to 90% of the German population but commercial services are only receivable in urban areas at present.
The contract runs until 2014.
Source: Rapid TV News
DTT penetration reaches 90%
DTT services now reach 90% of the population according to the closing report of the German TV Platform, two years ahead of the official ASO date of end 2012.
At the end of 2008 over 16 million DVB-T receivers had been sold.
The platform is to start two new working groups, the first to look into further developments in DTT broadcasting and the second to work on a road map for the switch to digital broadcasting on cable and satellite services.
Penetration map: Uberallfernsehen.de
Item added: 13th July 2009
Digital dividend to be used for mobile broadband
The German Federal Council has approved the proposal to use the digital dividend for mobile broadband services, reports Telecompaper.
The decision to devote the spectrum to mobile broadband is expected to support the German federal government's target for nationwide availability of at least 1 Mbps broadband services by 2010 and 75 percent coverage of 50 Mbps by 2014. The German telecommunications regulator BNA can now start preparations for the digital dividend licence auction, which is expected to take place at the end of this year or in the first quarter of 2010. The decision of the federal council was met by approval from German ICT association Bitkom and Vodafone Germany.
Source: Telecompaper
Item added: 15th June 2009
RTL to launch more pay and free to air DTT services
RTL is to launch DTT services in Halle and Leipzig during the autumn. The licence granted by the media authorities in Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony will allow RTL to broadcast four free to view DTT services as well as two pay-DTT services.
To access the services viewers will need to purchase an STB with MPEG-4 AVC decoding and a smartcard using Conax encryption.
During the first year of service the two pay DTT services will be free of charge after which they will cost €2.90/month
This service offering is similar to the RTL service available in Stuttgart.
Source: Rapid TV News
Item added: 8th May 2009
Over 500 channels available on DTT platforms in Europe
Recent data from the MAVISE TV database, developed for the DG Communication of the European Commission by the European Audiovisual Observatory, shows the continued expansion of television channels in the European (EU 27 + Croatia and Turkey) television market. More than 200 new TV channels were launched in 2008. There are now a total of 5587 channels (plus 412 non-European channels) available in the 29 countries.
Digital terrestrial television (DTT) has experienced significant developments in the last year.
Six of the 29 countries included in the MAVISE database have already ceased analogue terrestrial transmission.
France, Italy, Spain and the UK (four markets with large use of terrestrial television) have reached very high levels of DTT penetration in households and two of these have started regional switch-off of the analogue signals
The market will see more rapid development this year with the expected launch of new services in Slovenia, Denmark, Portugal, Ireland, Poland, Greece, and Slovakia. Full article at: EAO press release
Item added: 7th April 2009
RTL DTT possible in Leipzig and Halle
RTL is reported to be looking to acquire a DTT multiplex covering the cities of Leipzig and Halle according to Broadband TV News.
Interest has been stimulated by the likelihood that the regional media authority will open applications for a new multiplex soon.
Recently RTL received permission to launch DTT services in the Stuttgart area using MPEG-4 coding for both a Free to view and a Pay TV services and employing encryption from Conax. For more detail see the previous item below.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added 23rd February 2009
Launch of RTL DTT services confirmed
The media authority for the German state of Baden-Württemberg, the Landesanstalt für Kommunikation Baden-Württemberg (LFK), has confirmed the launch of the free to air channels RTL, Vox, Super RTL and RTL 2 on the DTT platform in the region of Stuttgart.
Two pay channels from the RTL Group, RTL Crime and RTL Passion, will also be offered free-to-view for a period of twelve months, after which the broadcaster plans to charge a monthly €2.90 subscription fee.
RTL will use MPEG-4 in the region, which has a potential of 1.6 million households and transmissions are due to start in the third quarter of the year.
Current DVB-T receivers will not be able to receive the RTL channels and it will be necessary to purchase a new MPEG-4 receivers to view them.
The new receiver will also need to incorporate a Conax smart card reader to access the RTL pay channels
At the same time, the RTL Group has extended its current DVB-T distribution contract with Media Broadcast for the other regions until 2014 and will continue to use the current MPEG2 transmission standard.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 16th February 2009
RTL to join DTT platform
RTL Germany’s channels will most likely be the first private broadcasters to join the digital terrestrial multiplex in the region of Stuttgart, according to the German news site Digital Fernsehen, reports Broadband TV News.
The two main commercial broadcasters in the country, RTL and ProSiebenSat.1, have been cautious about joining the digital terrestrial service in large parts of the country, but RTL had a change of mind when it announced late last year that it was reconsidering DTT.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 9th February 2009
Digital switchover completed
Network operator Media Broadcast has announced that the digital switchover has been completed throughout Germany as of the 2nd December 2008 and services are now available to 90% of the population, in total 74 million people. However in some places the switchover is not 100% complete and some small areas will continue to receive analogue gap fillers to ensure full coverage.
To complete the changeover process Media Broadcast set up new broadcast antennas at 79 transmission sites and installed 283 new transmitter stations. During the process 6,000 analogue TV transmitters and transposers were decommissioned.
Viewers are able to access between 12 and 30 television programme services depending on their location.
During the transition a three-tier receiving concept was developed to provide provision for inside, outside and rooftop reception.
Source: Media Broadcast press release
Item added: 16th December 2008
ASO will complete two years ahead of plan
The switch off of all analogue transmitters in Germany will be completed on the 25th November 2008, 2 years ahead of schedule.
DTT services are now available to 90% of the country and it is estimated that 16 million DVB-T receivers will have been sold in Germany by the end of 2008.
Source: Bayerischer Rundfunk
Item added: 3rd November 2008
Mobile 3.0 to hand back licence
Mobile 3.0 is expected to hand back its DVB-H licence shortly after failing to fulfil its licence obligations.
At present it is not known when the licence will be offered for new bidders.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 3rd November 2008
Bavaria completes switch to DTT
Bavaria will complete its transition to DTT service on the 25th November when the last digital replacement transmitters are officially put on air. After the launch 90% of Bavarians will be able to receive DTT services.
Initially only public service broadcasts will be available on the platform but this is likely to change as DTT becomes established.
Germany is a highly cabled country and terrestrial reception is by no means the major means of TV delivery at present.
The public service channel line up consists of 12 channels, Das Erste, ZDF, Bayerisches Fernsehen, BR-alpha, 3sat, PHOENIX, arte, EinsPlus, Kika, hr-fernsehen, MDR, ZDFdokukanal and ZDFinfokanal. In some areas only 10 programmes are available.
Main source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 30th September 2008
Three apply for DTT in Hesse
The single DTT channel up for offer on the multiplex transmitted on channel 64 in the Rhine-Maine area of Hesse has received three applications. These are from Bibel TV, the evangelical broadcaster, ERF and regional broadcaster RegioOnline from Hanover. The state media authority is expected to choose the winning applicant and award the licence this autumn
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 17th September 2008
3.9 million DTT households in Germany
Digital TV penetration in Germany continues to grow and in July reached 46.7% up from 39.9% last year. Whilst the proportion of total households watching terrestrial TV has dropped from 11.5% to 11.1% during the year, the total watching TV on the DTT platform, has risen to 3.9 million households. Now 95.1% of terrestrial TV viewers watch digital terrestrial TV, up from 86% in 2007.
Source: Digitalisierungsbericht 2008 (ALM website)
Item added: 9th September 2008
Hesse launches DTT tender
The German state of Hesse has launched a tender for the use of a single TV channel on the multiplex already broadcasting on channel 64.
The channel would have potential viewer coverage of 6.4 Million in the Rhine-Maine area which includes the city of Frankfurt.
The multiplex currently broadcasts Eurosport, Tele 5 and the regional Rhein-Maine TV from other private broadcasters.
Applications must be submitted to the state media authority (Hessische Landesanstalt für privaten Rundfunk und neue Medien - LPR Hessen) by September
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 11th August 2008
Das Erste broadcast on UHF for DVB-T enabled phones
German broadcaster ARD has decided to keep DTT transmission of Das Erste in Bavaria on the UHF band. This is so that people with DVB-T enabled mobile phones can watch Olympic Games coverage. NDR also plans to broadcast Das Erste on a UHF multiplex in Northern Germany for the same reason.
ARD uses VHF channels for many of its DTT broadcasts but DVB-T enabled phones only have tuners for the UHF bands.
The expansion of the DTT network continues and new transmitters in the states of Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia have started operation.
In this area of Central Germany, 8.9 million viewers are now able to receive DTT broadcasts.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 8th July 2008
DTT services at racetracks
Two racetracks, the Norisring near Nuremberg and the Nurburgring in the Eiffel region, have each received a DTT licence to provide live coverage of their events.
Reception is possible in the racetracks using a DTT receiver. Broadcasts are available free-to-air. In recent months mobile phone handsets with DVB-T receivers have been on sale in Germany.
Main source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 1st July 2008
DVB-H services launched
DVB-H services have been launched in Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt and Hanover by Mobile 3.0. In this the trial phase the service reception, encryption and real-time operation will be assessed. Full commercial services are expected to commence when Mobile 3.0 receives the necessary licences to operate.
Both free to air and encrypted services are available on both Nokia and Samsung handsets.
Source: Rapid TV News
Item added: 10th June 2008
O2 to offer hybrid DVB-T USB stick
Mobile operator O2 is to offer a hybrid USB stick in the German market according to Broadcast TV News. The stick allows both the reception of DVB-T broadcasts and HDSPA mobile broadband access. Delivery is expected to start in August, in time for the Olympics.
O2 have also joined with Vodafone and T-Mobile in offering LG phones with built in DVB-T receivers.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 20th May 2008
Mobile phones receive DVB-T
Vodafone and T-Mobile are to launch a range of LG designed mobile phones which receive DVB-T transmissions.
Recently Vodafone, T-Mobile and O2 were part of a consortium that bid for a DVB-H licence and lost out to Mobile 3.0.
Mobile 3.0 now plan to launch their DVB-H service in time for the EURO 2008 football championship.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 6th May 2008
Delays in DVB-H roll-out
The slow licensing process in some Germany states is likely to delay the launch of DVB-H services in parts of Germany until after the Euro 2008 football championships, reports Broadband TV News.
The issuing of licences is just a formality but not all states have cleared them and this is likely to result in Mobile 3.0 only reaching 20% of the German population instead of the planned 35%.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 28th April 2008
7.8 million DTT receivers sold
Research by GfK shows that since the introduction of DTT in November 2002, some 7.8 million sets have been sold in Germany.
Three million were set-top boxes, 1.8 million were IDTVs and 2.2 million were portable receivers including DVD players, USB sticks and DTT PC cards.
GfK also predict that 6 million DTT receivers will be sold in 2008.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 23rd March 2008
SES-Astra claim 9.75 million DTH homes
SES-Astra say the total number of DTH homes in Germany has now reached 9.75 million.
In total, Germany had 36.98 million analogue and digital TV homes last year.
The number of satellite households remained stable at 16.7 million amounting to 45% of all TV households. Cable serves 17.9 million TV homes (48.4%). Terrestrial television alone is watched in 2.3 million homes (6.3%).
Cable households declined by 600,000 in 2007 whilst the number of digital terrestrial TV households increased by 400,000 .
Digital TV penetration increased to 15.61 million households, with 9.88 million receiving DTV signals from satellite.Three million six hundred thousand TV homes (23.1 percent) receive TV via. digital cable, 2.06 million homes (13.2 percent) receive DTT and 50,000 households (0.03 percent) are currently being served via DSL, compared to 40,000 in 2006.
The share of analogue TV households continues to decrease and currently amounts to 21.4 million.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 23rd March 2008
DVB-T in mobile phones
Vodafone has showcased its smart phones able to receive DVB-T services at CeBIT. These phones are expected to be launched in Germany later this year.
Two smart phone models have been showcased, the HB620T from LG and the T600 DVB-T from GSmart. The HB620T is said to allow 2 hours of DVB-T viewing on a single battery charge.
Main source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 10th March 2008
HD take up in Germany may be slow
According to Markus Schächter, head of German public broadcaster ZDF, HDTV take up in Germany is likely to be slow.
“HDTV and conventional digital television will exist side-by-side for many years”, said Schächter before ZDF’s television supervisory board in Düsseldorf. “We are positioning ourselves for a long so-called simulcast period. The experience of previous years, which brought only a very sluggish transition from analogue to digital television in Germany, indicates that we will have to draw a long breath before the introduction of high definition television penetrates the market.”
He went on to say that it would help if there were an obligatory switch date for the distribution of analogue TV services.
Most Germans receive their television signals from cable systems and Schächter said that he was concerned with the slow pace of discussions with cable operators over the introduction of HDTV. They are said to be wanting ‘large financial payments’ to distribute HDTV programmes and are not looking at the benefits that it would bring to their customers, he is reported to have said.
ZDF and fellow public broadcaster ARD will introduce regular HDTV transmissions from the start of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in February 2010. According to Schächter, around a quarter of ZDF’s programmes will be available daily in high definition from this point onwards. In the meantime there will be numerous test runs, including HDTV showcases to be screened at yearly consumer electronics fair Internationale Funkausstellung in Berlin, during Christmas and for the Athletics World Championships 2009 in Berlin
Source: Rapid TV News
Item added: 4th March 2008
More DVB-H licences for Mobile 3.0
The city of Bremen has issued a licence to Mobile 3.0 for the launch its DVB-H service before the Euro 2008 Football Championships. Further licences have also been issued in the states of Saxony, Thüringen and Hesse according to Broadband TV News.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 4th March 2008
T-Systems Media and Broadcasting renamed
Deutsche Telekom’s broadcast services subsidiary, T-Systems Media and Broadcasting has been renamed as, Media Broadcast by its new owner TDF.
French company TDF acquired T-Systems Media and Broadcast, which has around 1,250 employees, in January 2008.
Media Broadcast operates most of the analogue and digital terrestrial TV and radio transmitters in Germany.
Source: Rapid TV News
Item added: 26th February 2008
Go-ahead for DVB-H services
Regional authorities have given the go ahead to Mobile 3.0 to start DVB-H broadcasts in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein.
June 1st 2008 is the start date for the service, just in time for the Euro 2008 football championship.
The agreement is for a three-year period and the initial offer will consist of the main channels ARD, ZDF, RTL, VOX, SAT.1, Pro Sieben, N24 as well as local station Hamburg 1 and some radio stations.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 26th February 2008
Mobile 3.0 DVB-H launch plans released
DVB-H services are expected to launch in time for the Euro 2008 Football Championship in June reports Broadband TV News.
Initially, only major cities will be able to access services, including Cologne/Bonn, Berlin, Hamburg and Munich.
However, by the end of the year, services will be available in all regional capitals, amounting to approximately 40% of the population.
The DVB-H network will be operated by T-Systems Media and Broadcasting, recently acquired by TDF.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 29th January 2008
Mobile 3.0 wins DVB-H operator licence
As expected the Media Authorities have awarded the licence to operate DVB-H services to Mobile 3.0
Services are expected to be launched in urban areas on the 1st June using a network to be built by T-Systems.
Services will include public broadcasters ARD and ZDF, commercial broadcasters RTL, SAT.1, Pro Sieben, VOX, n-tv and N24 as well as 6-7 further services not yet announced. Multimedia radio services will be provided by Digital 5, bigBuddy and kick.fm.
Mobile 3.0 is backed by Mobiles Fernsehen Deutschland (MFD), which operates T-DMB services, and Neva Media.
Main source: Rapid TV News
Item added: 22nd January 2008
T-Systems expands DTT coverage
Deutsche Telekom’s broadcast services subsidiary T-Systems Media & Broadcast has further increased its DTT coverage this year, reports Rapid TV News.
A total of 26 locations with 78 transmitters were added in 2007, the latest being the federal state of Saarland on December 13.
DTT can now be received by 68 million German inhabitants, corresponding with 85 per cent of the population. “In nearly every regional state the coverage has been expanded to almost complete coverage,” said CEO Helmut Egenbauer. “There are currently more than 9 million DTT receivers on the market offering a broad choice. The high acceptance amongst end consumers of this transmission method is a clear signal of its successful implementation.” Together with ARD and ZDF, T-Systems Media & Broadcast plans to increase DTT coverage next year to at least 90 per cent of the population. A further 22 locations in five states will be upgraded to achieve this.
Source: Rapid TV News
Item added: 18th December 2007
18 million digital STBs in Germany
Broadband TV News reports that there are 18 million digital STBs in German homes, according to estimates made by the consumer electronics association Zentralverbandes Elektrotechnik- und Elektronikindustrie (ZVEI).
11 million of these are satellite receivers, 5.5 million are DTT receivers and 1.5 million are cable tuners. The figures are based on German retail sales and comprise of set-top boxes, integrated digital TV sets, PC cards, and portable DTT receivers. USB tuner sticks were not included.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 4th December 2007
Commercial broadcasters on Saarland and Leipzig DTT platform
Private broadcasters are set to join the new DTT service in the state of Saarland and the city of Leipzig.
Four multiplexes will start broadcasting from December 13th with three offering public broadcasts and the fourth providing regional broadcasts.
Low power local transmitters will also be launched before the end of the year covering Leipzig and the surrounding area and are expected to provide services at a much lower cost than on the main multiplexes.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 30th October 2007
EU declares aid in North Rhine Westphalia illegal
The European Commission has decided that German plans to finance part of the fees commercial broadcasters pay for the transmission of their programs on the digital terrestrial television (DVB-T) network in the German Land of North Rhine-Westphalia are not compatible with the EC state aid rules.
The planned aid violates EC state aid rules. The EC Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes stated: "The transition to digital broadcasting has many advantages for consumers and innovation. However, State support must target specific issues where the market does not provide solutions and must not be discriminatory, in particular between terrestrial, cable and satellite transmission."
Source: EC press release
Item added: 30th October 2007
Mobile 3.0 expected to win DVB-H operator licence
The Mobile platform operator licence for the recently announced DVB-H network (being deployed by T-Systems) is expected to be awarded to Mobile 3.0.
Mobile 3.0 is a joint venture between German media company Mobiles Fernsehen Deutschland (MFD) and Neva Media.
According to the Federal Media Authorities mobile 3.0 has until the 9th November to present a plan of how the platform capacity will be allocated to broadcasters. These allocations must include regional services as well as four radio programme services.In total 29 applications were received for the licence to operate the platform which is due for launch before the European Soccer championships in 2008.
Source: Rapid TV News
Item added: 23rd October 2007
T-Systems wins licence to deploy DVB-H network in Germany
German telecommunications regulator BNA has selected T-Systems Media&Broadcast to deploy a Germany-wide DVB-H network for mobile TV services.
BNA said that the network deployment would start in the spring of 2008 in Hannover so that DVB-H applications can be shown during the Cebit trade fair in March.
The DVB-H service will then be extended to all the other state capital cities before the end of 2008 and to all German cities with more than 150,000 inhabitants in 2009. The four biggest cities in each state with populations of more than 100,000 will follow with the final goal being 90% coverage of the German population in 2015.
Source: Telecompaper
Item added: 16th October 2007
DTT services extended to more parts of Bavaria
The regions of Schwaben and Altbayern join the digital switchover on the 27th November 2007, when Augsburg Welden, Hohenpeissenberg, Pfaffenhofen , Landshut, Baden-Wuertttemburg, Ravensburg and Ulm become digital.
Public service broadcasters including Das Erste, ZDF, Bayerisches Fernsehen, BRalpha, 3sat, PHOENIX, arte, EinsPlus, KI.KA, SWR-Fernsehen, ZDFdokukanal and ZDFinfokanal will transmit 12 DTT program services on the new platform.
Source: Bayerischer Rundfunk press release
Item added: 25th September 2007
Jointly owned mobile TV platform okay !
Germany's cartel office has agreed that mobile phone operators T-Mobile, Vodafone and O2 can create a jointly owned and managed platform for broadcast mobile television using DVB-H.The cartel office has also agreed that the German operators can purchase programming together, but each operator will need to market their services separately.
Source: DTG website
Item added: 18th September 2007
ZDF sets out roadmap to HD
At IFA2007, ZDF chief Markus Schächter laid out the roadmap to HD for the public broadcaster, reports Broadband TV News.
He said: “We are waiting until the infrastructure conditions make a meaningful distribution possible.
We, that is ARD and ZDF, have agreed to start simultaneous HD transmissions from early 2010.
That year we will have the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver and the World Cup in South Africa.”
The broadcaster emphasised that it is very active in the field of new media, including mobile TV, online on-demand programming and the nationwide rollout of DTT, but that as a public broadcaster they must carefully weigh each decision, as it is public money they are spending.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 14th September 2007
German DTT market continues to grow
TNS Infratest have released figures, which show that the number of terrestrial TV households has climbed from 9.2% to 11.5% during the past year. This is very significant in a market, which has been dominated by cable TV for many years.
The growth is highest (16%) in areas where both commercial and public service broadcasts are available on the DTT platform.
In total 86% of all terrestrial households have converted from analogue to digital TV.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 3rd September 2007
Low cost DTT initiative attracts applicants
The low cost DTT initiative in the city of Leipzig has prompted applications from Leipzig Fernsehen, BBC World, Bibel TV and a new local city information channel. Two local radio stations, Radio Leipzig and catholic broadcaster Radio Horeb also want to join the line up. The local media authority has said that it expects all, the applications to be honoured however a formal decision is not expected until the 24th September. If the services get the go ahead they will increase the DTT channel offering in Leipzig from 13 to 17.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 21st August 2007
Still more DVB-H services for Germany
German mobile TV operator MFD and NEVA Media have set up a joint venture to run mobile TV services in Germany and applied for licences. The former competitors plan to launch a mobile TV service in 2008 if their applications are successful.
A decision on the licence award is expected from the state media authority before the end of 2007.
MFD already have a nationwide licence to provide services via the DAB based DMB standard but the recent EU announcement backing a single European mobile standard using DVB-H may cause problems to its long-term availability.
Main source: Telecompaper
Item added: 14th August 2007
More DVB-H services for Germany
Recent reports suggest that Telecom companies, T-mobile, Vodafone D2 and CO2 may cooperate in the introduction of a mobile TV service using DVB-H technology.
The Federal Cartel Office in Bonn has no objection to the arrangement, which will make the most efficient use of scarce frequency resources.
The consortium hopes to launch a 16-programme service in spring of 2008.
Source: Finanzen.net
Item added: 14th August 2007
Germany has 9.59 million digital homes
The latest figures from AGF/GfK Fernsehforschung show that Germany now has 35.02 million TV households of which 9.59 million (27.4%) receive TV digitally on DTT cable or DTH systems. These figures are published on a monthly basis by AGF/GfK.
Thanks to Broadband TV News for highlighting this data source.
Source: AGF/GfK Fernsehforschung
Item added: 10th July 2007
German DTT extended to Saarland
The Landesmedienansalt Saarland has announced that the whole area will have DTT coverage by the end of the year.
Saarland is the last state in Germany to get digital television.
In 2008 all major DTT transmitters will be on the air leading to a complete German analogue switch off in 2010.
Source: broadbandtvnews
Item added: 5th June 2007
Obstacle to DVB-H launch
A group consisting of Vodafone, T-mobile and O2 have been working towards the nationwide launch of a DVB-H bouquet of 16 channels in spring 2008, but these plans are to be investigated by the German competition authority Bundeskartellamt.
The investigation could result in the blocking of the new joint offer on the grounds that only three of the four mobile operators are involved. Previously e-Plus was also part of the consortium but pulled out.
One mobile operator, Mobiles Fernsehen Deutschland (MFD) in Germany is already offering a commercial 4-channel TV bouquet (plus radio) using DMB but this is not nationwide.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 15th May 2007
Premiere has 70,000 HD subscribers
German pay TV operator Premiere reports that it now has 70,000 HD subscribers, 10,000 of which joined in the first quarter of 2007. Additional German HD channels are also available from Sat1, ProSieben and Annixe bringing the total number of HD receivers in the German market to 84,000.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 15th May 2007
DTT coverage to reach 80% by the end of 2007
T-Systems predict that another 8 million potential viewers will be able to receive DTT by the end of the year, bringing the total to 64 million.
June the 12th will see a launch in the Munster area followed by the city of Aachen in November.
The southern parts of Baden-Wurttemberg will see the launch of DTT on July 10th and then the cities of Dresden, Chemnitz and Gera on the 23rd July.
Further DTT expansions are planned for Saxony-Anhalt, Rhineland-Palatina, Lower Saxony and Saarland during the year.
Source: Broadband TV news
Item added: 8th May 2007
Leipzig to launch pilot commercial DTT MUX
The media authority of the state of Saxony, has agreed the launch of a special pilot DTT multiplex for up to four commercial broadcasters.
A network of five low power transmitters will be built to serve the urban area of Leipzig and is expected to cover 200,000 households. It is hoped that the new network will keep costs low so that local and regional broadcasters can participate. This has not been possible with the current network of high power stations, which are too expensive when serving small audiences. The new network will have room for a minimum of four TV programmes and will use cross polarization to improve reception by mobile receivers.
Source: Broadband TV news
Item added: 10th April 2007
DTT coverage extended in the North of Germany
DTT services have been launched in Lüneburger Heide and Wendland, in the northeastern part of the Land of Lower Saxony. Viewers in these areas are able to receive 11 television programme services and 1 data services.
The new services include Das Erste, PHOENIX, ARTE, EinsExtra, NDR, WDR, MDR, HR Fernsehen, ZDF, 3sat, KI.KA as well as a ZDF digitext.
Regional broadcaster NDR expects to provide 90% of its terrestrial television signals digitally by the end of the year.
Original source: Das UberallFernsehen website (thanks to Digitag for the translation)
Item added: 13th March 2007
Regulator for Baden-Wuerttemberg prepares for DVB-H launch
The Media regulator for Baden-Wuerttemberg, LFK, together with media regulators from other regions has begun the procedure necessary for the selection of a DVB-H service provider
Candidates can submit their request for a nationwide DVB-H license which should allow for an offer of 16 television and radio programme services. Applications must be submitted to the LFK by 13 April 2007.
It is expected that the DVB-H services will be commercially available by Spring 2008.
Source: LFK website
Item added: 13th March 2007
Germans want their mobile TV
According to research by Medienkommission carried out for ARD/ZDF in November 2006, 13% of the German population are interested in mobile TV but they don’t particularly want to watch it on mobile phones. Younger participants in the survey said they would like to watch mobile TV on their MPS player or iPod; others would like to watch on handheld receivers and laptops.
The research shows people are interested in watching mobile TV when they are on long trips and while they are waiting for the doctor or at the barbers. The service should also be free: 87% of all respondents said they want the ARD and ZDF channels to be available at no charge.
Source: Broadband TV news
Item added: 13th February 2007
7 million DTT receivers operating
Over 7 million DTT receivers have been sold in Germany according to the DVB-T taskforce. This brings the percentage of German terrestrial households viewing DTT to 60%. By the end of December the DTT coverage was 75% of the population.
DTT launches planned for 2007 will include: Lüneburger Heide, Münster, Südwestfalen, Sachsen, Sachsen -Anhalt, Thüringen, Saarland, Baden-Württemberg and Rheinland-Pfalz. Source: DVB-T Taskforce press release
Item added: 16th January 2007
Digital TV on the west coast
Schleswig-Holestein on the west coast of Germany has become the latest region to get Digital Terrestrial TV. The service began on the 24th October and provides eleven public channels.
Source: lr-online
Item added: 26th October 2006
DTT starts in Oberpalz and Niederbayern during December 2006
On the 6th December digital terrestrial television will officially start in the Oberpalz and Niederbayern regions of Bavaria.
At present three DTT transmitters are operating in the region and this will soon be increased to twelve, providing coverage to the inhabitants of the Landshut, Passau, Staubing and Regensburg areas.
Source: DSLteam.de
Item added: 10th October 2006
DVB-T penetration increases
Recent reports put the number of DVB-T receivers sold in Germany at 5 million up to August 2006. 3.5 million of these were set top boxes and IDTV’s, and the remaining 1.5 million were PC cards, USB sticks, pocket receivers and in-car receivers.
Source: DVB
Item added: 4th October 2006
Staufenberg becomes the latest for analogue switch-off
NDR has announced that analogue switch-off will take place in the region of Staufenberg on 10 October. Other regions affected include Münden, Hedemünden and Oberode.
Commercial broadcasters have decided not to provide their services on the DTT platform will only be available on satellite or cable systems.
Analogue switch-off is expected to be completed by 2010.
Source: HNA Online
Item added: 26th September 2006
German Mobile TV Tests Successful
Mobile TV tests using DVB-H in Hanover, Berlin, Hamburg and Munich, started back in May have proved to be a great success.
Users were impressed by the excellent picture quality, good reception and the extensive range of programmes made available.
The project was launched for the football World Cup by the German mobile network operators E-Plus, O2, T-Mobile and Vodafone and all four operators are convinced that handsets based on DVB-H can be genuinely successful business.
They firmly believe that interactive entertainment and information-based services can provide a positive benefit as an educational and business tool.
To deploy the system across Germany a network infrastructure must be created and whilst the network operators have the money ready to invest, the stumbling block is the availability of suitable frequencies. Until regulatory authorities can guarantee that spectrum will be available Germany must wait for DVB-H services. Already Finland and Italy are going ahead with these new services and German operators wish to do the same.
Source: Cellular News
Item added: 29th August 2006
DVB-H services for FIFA World Cup
28 May 2006
Next month's FIFA World Cup competition in Germany will see the start of a widescale evalution of the DVB-H system in preparation for the launch of commercial services in 2007. The German mobile network operators (E-Plus, O2, T-Mobile and Vodafone D2) will cooperate in putting services on air in four cities: Berlin, Hamburg, Hannover and Munich. T-Systems will operate the DVB-H platform along with the transmitter network. 14 TV programmes and 6 radio programmes will be included in the service. The terminals will be provided by BenQ, Motorola, Nokia, Sagem and Samsung.
One of the key aspects of this set of trial broadcasts is that the system will be compliant with DVB´s IP Datacast set of specifications. These specifications allow for the provision of such essential features as an electronic service guide (ESG), service purchase and protection (SPP) and a range of other crucial elements for a mobile TV service. As with all DVB specifications, the IP Datacast specifications are open standards and promote maximum interoperability. The DVB-H network will use QPSK with an FEC rate of 2/3.
The regional media authorities in Berlin and Brandenburg (mabb), Hamburg (HAM), Niedersachsen (NLM) and Bayern (BLM) have created the necessary conditions for the trial - in close cooperation with the mobile network operators and the content providers. They are committed to working towards a rapid market introduction.
Detailed information on DVB-H technology, trials and service launches can be found at www.dvb-h.org.
Item added: 1st June 2006
DVB-T deployed in the Southwest
DVB-T services are continuing to be deployed in the Southwest of Germany and will start on the May 17th in the Ludwigshafen and Vorderpfalz areas and on the 22nd May in Kaiserslautern, according to Hiese on-line.
Transmissions also start in Mannheim, Heidelberg and Stuttgart at the same time.
Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate will also be covered shortly, leaving the Saarland as the only area still to be covered. Full coverage in the Southwest is expected to be completed by 2008.
Source: Heise on-line
Item added: 16th May 2006
More DTT launches expected in May
Stuttgart, Ludwigshafen, Mannheim, Heidelberg and Kaiserslauten will be able to access DTT services around the middle of May.
In the northern part of Germany, Northrein-Westphalia as well in Bavaria additional transmitter-sites will extend the current coverage of DTT services.
Viewers will have access to up to 11 television programme services offered by the public service broadcasters but at this stage, the commercial broadcasters have decided not to extend their given coverage on the DTT platform.
The launch of DTT services will coincide with the simultaneous switch-off of analogue terrestrial television services, following the example of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which switched over in December 2005. The state of Hess will also completely switch off its analogue terrestrial platform and go completely digital on 29 May.
With the upcoming World Cup, further regions in Germany will benefit from the launch of free-to-air DTT services.
Source: SWR.de and Digitag
DTT launches expected in Bavaria
More parts of Bavaria will be covered by DTT services on the 29th May.
These areas include Wurzburg and Regensburg as well as parts of Upper Palatinate, Lower Bavaria and Lower Franconia.
Twelve programmes from public broadcasters will be available in these areas as they are already in Munich, Southern Bavaria and Nuremburg.
By the end of 2008, 90% of Germany will have access to DTT services.
Source: DVB-T Bavaria
Item added: 30th March 2006
"Handy-TV" project in Hamburg generates lots of DVB-H proposals
A request for interest in the pilot project "Handy-TV" from the Hamburgischen Anstalt fuer neue Medien (HAM), brought in applications and statements of interest from both DVB-H and DMB proponents.
The call for applications ended on February 3rd with more than 40 entries, most relating to DVB-H.
In Germany DVB-H services will initially be introduced via pilot projects in Hamburg, Berlin and Hannover.
Ham director Dr. Lothar Jene commented that " The pilot projects will function as door openers and the number of important players expressing interest in DVB-H is a good indication of its future success. We hope to start in three metropolitan areas within the next three months".
Source: Ham press release
Item added: 7th February 2006
Aachen to launch DTT services
Plans have been announced for the launch of DTT services in the city of Aachen, a German city located near the border with Belgium and the Netherlands.
Viewers will be able to access 12 television programme services made available by public service broadcasters. Commercial broadcasters have decided against joining the launch since the launch area does include a sufficiently high number of households to be profitable.
Services are expected to be launched in mid 2007.
Source: Digitag and Aachener Zeitung
Premiere shifts HDTV start date
Premiere has delayed the launch of its new HDTV satellite service by two weeks to allow for the late delivery of its MPEG-4 capable set-top boxes for German and Austrian customers.
The delay is due to the late delivery to the manufacturers of MPEG-4, HDTV decoder chips.
Premiere expect the new launch date for HDTV services to be December 3rd, 2005.
MPEG-4/H.264 coded TV programmes in 1080i have already been broadcast since August 2005 and it is only the set-top boxes which are delaying the official launch of the new DVB-S2 based service.
Source: golem.de
Item added: 8th November 2005
More DTT launches in Germany
DVB-T services in the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern region will begin on the 6th of December 2005, further expanding the coverage of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) in Germany.
At launch only public service broadcasters will be present on the platform as local commercial broadcasters are not yet ready to participate in DTT.
The deputy director of NDR, Joachim Lampe commented that DVB-T services are already popular with young people. He noted that many DT receivers have been purchased for use on home and laptop computers.
Demand is expected to rise as the World Cup Championship season approaches and viewers look to more flexible viewing approaches.
DTT will also be launched on the 14th December in the Osnabrueck, Lingen and Goettingen regions.
Source: Zdnet
Item added: 1st November 2005
Germany to expand DTT coverage
Germany’s public broadcasters have committed to bring digital terrestrial television to 90% of the population. The move will take DTT out of the major conurbations and into more rural areas. By the end of the year DTT will be available to 45 million German residents, boosted by Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which is scheduled to launch digital services in December.
Source: Broadband TV News
Item added: 29th September 2005
DVB-H trial in Berlin
Germany's Bundesliga premier soccer league will start broadcasting games live to mobile phones at the end of September 2005 according to Reuters news agency.
The pilot project involves Microsoft, operator DFL and Bundesliga.
Games will be broadcast using the DVB-H standard to a limited group of users with smart phones based on Windows media software. The test phase will last until the end of the current season according to a DFL statement.
Source: Reuters
Item added: 13th September 2005
Analogue switched off in parts of Bavaria
On August 31st 2005, the terrestrial analogue signal was switched off in Munich, Nuremburg and parts of southern Bavaria. This follows a three month simulcast period during which both digital and analogue terrestrial signals were broadcast. Viewers can access 20 television programme some of them having MHP services.
Source: Digitag
Item added: 6th September 2005
Previous
Digital Television reaches nine million TV households
A recent report commissioned by the national broadcast regulator estimates that nine million TV households, 25.7% of German total, now receive television by digital means.
Nearly 40% of satellite viewers do so digitally and in total 45% of all households get their TV from satellite. The report goes on to say that 10% of TV households rely on terrestrial TV and that 46% of these now receive digitally. Cable television is available in over 50% of TV households but only 10% of subscribers access digital signals.
Source: Heise Online
Item added: 30th August 2005
Siemens commits further to the DVB-H market
On August 23rd Siemens announced that it would provide a live DVB-H service at IFA2005 in Berlin.
To demonstrate "Mobile TV", Siemens will for the first time use its new DVB-H test system comprising server platform for mobile television and a handset prototype capable of receiving DVB-H services. The equipment enables mobile operators to conduct DVB-H trials with relatively little effort, for example to test the level of acceptance for Mobile TV among consumers a spokesman said.
Siemens joins the growing number of influential companies backing the DVB-H system for broadcast to mobile phones.
Sources: Unwired and Slashphone
Item added: 25th August 2005
Roadmap to DVB-H Services in Northern Germany announced
The Media Authorities of five North German Länder last week announced their intention to work together towards the introduction of DVB-H services and published a paper supporting that position. The paper, titled Projekt DVB-H Norddeutschland, expresses their intent to smooth the way for the introduction of "Handy-TV" and to facilitate a rapid market introduction. It is hoped to fully test the technology with trial broadcasts during the 2006 World Cup Finals followed by the launch of regular services in 2007.
The project grouping comprises the media authorities from the following states: Bremen , Hamburg , Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen and Schleswig-Holstein. A press release including the text of the position paper is available here: http://www.ham-online.de/details.php?id=73 (in German only)
Item added: 24 August 2005
DVB-T start date for the Middle of Germany
DVB-T services are planned to start in the Halle/Leipzig and Erfurt/Weimar areas of Germany on December 5th 2005.
This launch is in line with the plan to launch DVB-T services all over Germany.
The first launch was in the Berlin/Brandenburg area during 2002 and further launches have taken place since in Northern Germany, North Rhine Westphalia, the Rhine Mainz area and most recently at the end of May 2005 in the Munich/Nurenburg area.
Introduction in the Kassel and Schwerin areas should be announced soon.
The introduction in Mannheim and Stuttgart areas is at an earlier planning stage.
Item added: 25th July 2005
Source: http://www.ueberallfernsehen.de
Bavaria commences DTT broadcasting
Pre-launch DTT test signals in Munich and Nurenburg began on the 23rd May 2005 ready for a full launch planned for the 30th May at 19:30. It is estimated that 6 million people will have access to these DTT signals.
Terrestrial commercial analogue broadcasting will also end on the 30th May with public broadcasting continuing until the end of August on temporary channel assignments.
Source: Digitag
Item added: 23rd May 2005
DVB-T in Germany - the second set-up phase is in full swing
Following the successful expansion of the DVB-T network in Germany's capital Berlin, the next phase is now underway. Since 24 May 2004, up to 20 TV programs on five channels can be received in the Cologne / Bonn area, and up to 16 TV programs on four channels each in Hanover / Braunschweig and Bremen / Unterweser. In November 2004, additional channels will start operation; the areas to be covered include the Dusseldorf area / Ruhr district, Hamburg, Lubeck, Kiel and the Rhine-Main area. The final expansion of this phase in these areas, with up to 24 programs, is scheduled for April 2005. The launch date for DVB-T in Bavaria is planned for 31 May 2005. In the course of 2005, the network will be further expanded in the reception areas of Rostock / Schwerin, Kassel, Erfurt / Weimar, Halle / Leipzig, Ludwigshafen / Mannheim as well as Stuttgart.
Source: News from Rohde & Schwarz Number 183 (2004/III)
For more up to date information on deployment in Germany try
http://www.ueberallfernsehen.de
