HD+ rolls out to cable networks

HD+, the fee-based satellite platform carrying the HD versions of German commercial TV channels, is to enter the cable market.

The offering will become available for the customers of small and medium-sized cable operators from January 2013, rapidtvnews.com reports.

This move has been made possible through an agreement reached with German cable association-FRK, according to HD Plus, a subsidiary of satellite operator Astra Deutschland. FRK’s more than 160 members will be able distribute the complete line-up of 15 HD channels on their networks. HD+ has so far only been available on satellite.

To access HD+, cable households will need a common interface module (CI+) which they have to plug into their TV set or HD cable set-top box.

“Many small cable networks are fed via satellite in Germany anyway,” Wilfried Urner, head of HD Plus, said in Munich. “Cable operators which don’t yet have their own contracts for carriage of HD channels will be able to provide HD+ to their customers through the agreement with FRK in an uncomplicated way.”