Spanish satellite operator Hispasat formally launched Hispasat 4K, a FTA TV channel that will be available for all the industry to perform tests and develop advanced solutions for new video formats.

The first transmission will be a 50 minute documentary on the Prado Museum, in Madrid, produced by TVE an co-produced by Hispasat.

The channel will soon première at the San Sebastian Film Festival. The new channel will be broadcast in MPEG-4 at a speed of 35Mbps, and—in experimental format—in the new High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVEC) format at a speed of 18Mbps. This will make the satellite transmission system the most efficient anywhere in the world at present. Content, coded in these formats, will be broadcast pursuant to the DVB-S2 standard by the Hispasat 1E satellite, offering coverage across Europe. It is also planned that transmissions will begin in North America and Latin America in the coming months.

Hispasat’s Business Director, Ignacio Sanchis said that the satellite represents “an ideal platform for developing UHD services due to its universal footprint, high capacity and large bandwidth; essential for transmitting large amounts of high-definition data,” adding that HISPASAT has been a pioneer in UHD satellite transmissions, having broadcast 4K-quality broadcasts in Brazil, Spain and a number of other European countries.

To carry out this project, Hispasat has partnered with Abertis Telecom, Thomson, TVE and LG.

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