Announcement

**donaldk** · 04-13-2016, 05:21 PM

Looks like the 4K broadcasts will be available to all rightsholders as Swisscom is also launching a 4K service tomorrow april 14, that will include 4k coverage of some of the Euro 2016 games.

As Swisscom announced today it will offer a new box that soon will also offer 4K streaming from Youtube, besides the 4K footbal broadcasts, from the European championships and starting this fall the Swiss league.

Swisscom launches new TV box: football fans can now watch European Championships games on SRF zwei in amazing resolution
Berne, 13 April 2016

Football fans are counting down the days to the start of the 2016 European Championships. Swisscom TV customers now have even more to look forward to. A new TV box will enable them to watch individual games in ultra-high definition (UHD) quality on SRF zwei for the very first time. The new box will be available from tomorrow. Thanks to a built-in voice-activated search function that supports Swiss dialects, content will now be even easier to find.

Swisscom customers will be the first people in Switzerland who will be able to watch individual games broadcast in UHD quality on SRF zwei. That means they can enjoy both the opening game and all games from the quarter-final onwards in amazing resolution. But that’s not all. From the 2016/2017 season onwards, Swisscom will team up with Teleclub to broadcast two games in the Raiffeisen Super League in UHD quality every week. All this is possible thanks to the launch of the new UHD-compatible TV box for Swisscom TV2.0. The box can be ordered from all Swisscom points of sale from 14 April 2016 onwards.

Swisscom offering first UHD films throughout Switzerland

To coincide with the launch of the new box, Swisscom is also offering a selection of UHD programmes (films and documentaries) for rent. This content will be expanded on an ongoing basis. The first live TV channels in UHD are scheduled to become available from the end of May. Customers will also soon be able to stream YouTube content in UHD using their new box. They can already use the newly integrated VLC media player to watch their own media, e.g. videos shot on their smartphone, in the highest possible resolution.

“The new box is even smaller, faster and cheaper and shows our customers images in greater resolution and brilliance than ever before. As a football fan, I’m already looking forward to watching the games in top picture quality,” says Dirk Wierzbitzki, Head of Swisscom Products & Marketing.
From 14 April onwards, new customers will receive the new box if they subscribe to a Vivo package with Swisscom TV 2.0. Existing TV 2.0 customers can purchase the new box for CHF 119. To be able to watch content in UHD quality, customers need not only the new Swisscom TV box but also a television that supports UHD and a minimum bandwidth of 40 Mbps. UHD is the successor technology to Full HD. It is also known as 4K because, with a screen resolution of 3840x2160, it shows four times as many pixels. The new TV box also supports High Dynamic Range (HDR), which offers higher contrast and greater colour depth and therefore produces a more natural and significantly better picture quality.

https://www.swisscom.ch/content/dam/swisscom/en/about/media/press-release/2016/20160413-MM-Images-EN.pdf.res/20160413-MM-Images-EN.pdf
https://www.swisscom.ch/content/dam/swisscom/de/about/medien/medienmitteilung/2016/20160413-MM-Pr%C3%A4sentation-DE.pdf.res/20160413-MM-Pr%C3%A4sentation-DE.pdf

Voice-activated searching – now also in Swiss German

The new box also comes equipped with a new remote control that has a built-in microphone. Voice-activated searching makes content even easier to find because there’s no longer any need to type search terms. These search terms may be film or programme titles, actors, sports clubs or other keywords. The voice-activated search function supports German, all Swiss German dialects and French. Italian will be added by the end of the year.
Contact

Swisscom AG
Media Relations
3050 Bern

media@swisscom.com

Further information

www.swisscom.ch/tv

**donaldk** · 04-13-2016, 05:48 PM

V-Nova explains its part in the platform, as reported above the V-Nova P.Link 4K contribution software encoders and decoders are being used. This implies that Rai will continue to use HEVC compression for the actual broadcasts on its Tivùsat Direct-To-Home satellite platform. V-Nova is a start-up compression and link management vendor whose primary target is video for mobile applications, but it is looking to find a place in all segments of the broadcast chain, from contribution through (post)production through broadcast in addition to established codecs, by inclusion in established vendor's equipment like HEVC encoders.

EUTELSAT DEPLOYS V-NOVA PERSEUS™ TO POWER 4K CONTRIBUTION OF LIVE UEFA EURO CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES FOR RAI UHD CHANNEL

V-Nova PERSEUS™ to support Eutelsat delivery of 4K visually lossless international feeds to RAI
Combined solution to be deployed for seven games of Europe’s most awaited sports tournament

Deployment confirms readiness and robustness of V-Nova PERSEUS™ powered P.Link 4K products for UHD high quality live contribution

London, April 12, 2016 – V-Nova Ltd., a leading provider of video compression solutions, today announced that Eutelsat has chosen V-Nova PERSEUS™ video compression for the contribution of visually lossless 4K international feeds of the UEFA Euro Championship 2016. The deployed system will be used from the quarter final onwards to enable RAI to offer live coverage of the final stages of the football tournament in Ultra HD/4K to all Italian homes that can receive RAI’s Ultra HD (UHD) channel on the Tivùsat platform.

To achieve its goals, the Italian broadcaster has partnered with Eutelsat, who will assist in the personalisation of the RAI UHD Channel with operations fully managed from its teleport in Rambouillet, near Paris. Eutelsat shall provide the contribution link from the International Broadcasting Center (IBC) to its teleport in the most pristine 4K/UHD quality using V-Nova’s PERSEUS-powered P.Link 4K products that will enable the UHD contribution feed at practical bitrates, alongside multiple HD feeds, while maintaining the lowest possible latency to ensure those very important goals are delivered as they happen.

“We’re excited to be part of RAI’s exceptional mobilisation on Ultra HD for the tournament. Live 4K broadcast requires a high-quality communication infrastructure, which plays to Eutelsat’s core strengths,” said Cristiano Benzi, Director Special Projects Italy, Eutelsat. “By working with V-Nova, we will be able to add pristine 4K/UHD feeds alongside the all-important HD feeds.”

The complete solution combines V-Nova P.Link 4K encoders and decoders, powered by V-Nova PERSEUS™, to contribute a high quality full-frame 3840×2160 50fps signal. The single unit compact solution avoids the need for multi-quadrant synchronisation and greatly simplifies operations.

Guido Meardi, V-Nova CEO and Co-Founder, explained: “It is an honour to have Eutelsat choose V-Nova PERSEUS to power contribution for this important initiative. It demonstrates the hard work gone into making P.Link 4K a product ready for deployment in the most important situations and demonstrates that 4K/UHD contribution is commercially viable today alongside existing services.”

V-Nova PERSEUS™ is a video processing technology that addresses today’s video delivery challenges. PERSEUS software closes the capacity gap for quality delivery to connected devices over existing networks. It redraws the traditional quality-bitrate curve, enabling operators and service providers to provide high quality video within their bandwidth constraints.

**DCI forum** · 05-05-2016, 06:00 AM

Following Italy, and Switserland the final rounds of the European Football Championships will also be available on in Portugal on RTP's 4K channel wich is availabe on several landbased networks. Sofar the Italian broadcasts are the only ones announced to be carried on Satellite with its blanket coverage.

Portugal’s RTP to broadcast Euro 2016 in 4K

From Branislav Pekic in Rome
May 4, 2016
Portuguese public broadcaster RTP will launch a Ultra HD channel for this summer’s Euro 2016 football tournament in France.

A total of eight matches will be broadcast live on the RTP Ultra HD channel, always at 20:00 local time. These include the opening match on June 10th, the quarter-finals between June 30th and July 3rd, the semi-finals on July 6th and 7th and the final on July 10th.

The new channel will be distributed by pay-TV operators NOS, Vodafone Portugal and Meo (Portugal Telecom).

RTP recently signed an agreement with pay-TV operator Sport TV to split up the TV rights to the Euro 2016. The public channel will air 24 matches free-to-air, including those of the Portuguese national team, while Sport TV will broadcast the entire competition on pay-TV.

**DCI forum** · 05-05-2016, 06:03 AM

Sprint to trial 4K over 5G at Copa America

US mobile operator Sprint will trial 4K streamed coverage of the Copa America football tournament this summer using 5G technology.

On the company’s fiscal fourth quarter earnings call yesterday, president and CEO Marcelo Claure said that Sprint would deliver 4K soccer coverage at two Copa America stadiums in June, in partnership with Nokia and Ericsson.

The move is part of the company’s “optimisation plan” for “building the foundation for 5G.”

“We are participating in the development of the global 5G standard, and we’re collaborating with our partners and other companies on the 5G opportunity,” said Claure.

Sprint said it plans to expand the use of 2.5 GHz and higher band spectrum as it evolves to 5G, and will demonstrate “5G capabilities using millimetric band radius” to deliver the 4K content.

For the first time this summer the Copa America will be held outside of South America. The Latin American football tournament will instead be played in 10 cities across the US.

**donaldk** · 06-07-2016, 10:12 PM

French compression equipment and services provider ATEME said it provides 4K-UHD HEVC Encoding for a 'Major European Football Tournament'. Given the date and the fact that concerns eight matches, i.e. quarter finals through to the final, plus Friday's opening match, makes that it can only be the European Football Championships in France. This HEVC compression workflow is just for the for the French broadcasters, and their viewers on incumbent telco Orange's pay-tv platform. At the IBC there is a quad HD AVC/H.264 signal available from the EBU to all rightsholders, Ateme also provides this compression chain.

Besides Italy, Switzerland, Portugal and France the matches will also be available in the Middle-East on the satellite Pay-TV platform of BeIN Sports, that just launched a new 4K set-top-box for its subscribers. In France it also shares rights with TF1 and M6, broadcasting all matches, but according to its website only in HD and not in 4K.

The first match covered and aired in 4K will be Friday's opening game between France and Rumania, then 4K viewers will have to wait till the quarter finals.

TF1 and M6 private national French television stations, selected ATEME to encode in 4K-UHD HEVC (H.265) eight of the football matches of a major European tournament taking place later in the month. ATEME provided a complete video headend, which includes its encoder TITAN Live 4K , as well as all necessary resources that are required for a high-quality and fully secured service. The 4K-encoded matches will be available for Orange fiber customers via the New Livebox on any compatible TV.

The live video is encoded in Ultra High Definition (UHD) at 50 frames per second. The HEVC-utilised codec reduces bandwidth by 30% to 50%, compared to MPEG-4, the previous generation codec, thereby improving image quality and reducing the cost of UHD live broadcasting.

TITAN is a virtualised software-based encoder-transcoder, designed for cable, DTH, and OTT. It supports HEVC, H.264 and MPEG-2 codecs, with resolutions from mobile devices to 4K-UHD. It is a high-density solution that delivers the highest video quality at minimum bitrates. TITAN Live is a complete distribution solution: encoder, transcoder, multiplexer, statmux, packager and origin. With its powerful user interface, management system and extensive set of APIs, TITAN can easily integrate with any ecosystem, reducing time-to-market and OPEX.

**donaldk** · 06-18-2016, 12:52 AM

beIN MEDIA Group has integrated Technicolor’s 4K Ultra High Definition (UHD) technology into its broadcast platform for the Middle East and North Africa. beIN operates DTH/Pay-TV platforms and Sports channels in the Middle East and North Africa (in 24 countries), France, USA, Canada, Indonesia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia. The 4K roll-out is limited to its Middle-Eastern Direct-To-Home Satellite platform.

The 4K rollout—the first ever in the MENA region—comes just in time for UEFA EURO 2016 football tournament, and TV viewers will be able watch seven matches of the football tournament as never before, in sharper, more vibrant and more realistic imagery.

4K UHD technology displays images at over eight million pixels (3,840 x 2,160), providing pictures with an ultra-high resolution. By integrating Technicolor’s high-end 4K media server set top box technology into the beIN 4K UHD receiver, beIN is broadcasting UEFA Euro’s four quarter-final matches, the semi-final matches and the final championship match in 4K. beIN will broadcast 4K matches on a dedicated channel called “beIN 4K.” Plans are already in motion for beIN to deliver a steady supply of 4K content through partnerships with other entertainment and sports entities.

“This launch illustrates beIN’s commitment to deliver advanced, high-quality and innovative sports and entertainment to our customers in the MENA region. It shows the leadership role the region is playing in adopting the latest technologies for home entertainment and how beIN is shaping entertainment in MENA region,” said Yousef Al Obaidly, Deputy CEO of beIN MEDIA Group.

Technicolor’s 4K technology not only provides 4K UHD resolution to homes in the MENA region, it also includes a single layer transmission technology that uses 10-bit HEVC encode/decode so content can be rendered on any television, whether it is 4K capable or not. In addition, there is built-in WiFi and satellite support as well as a powerful, integrated hard disk that optimizes beIN’s 4K UHD receiver. This means the solution from beIN and Technicolor can act as a home server for multiple viewing devices.

“beIN’s partnership with Technicolor will accelerate the arrival of next generation of visual experiences that provide explosive, multi-media and immersive entertainment. We are excited to work with such a technology-driven company,” said Mercedes Pastor, President of Technicolor Connected Home, EMEA.

beIN is a leading global network broadcasting in the Middle East and North Africa (in 24 countries), France, USA, Canada, Indonesia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia.

beIN is a multi-genre platform providing exclusive access to prime sporting competitions including: FIFA World Cup, UEFA Champions League, football leagues from Europe including Spain’s La Liga, England’s Premier League, Italy’s Serie A, France’s Ligue 1, German’s League Bundesliga; CAN, AFC Champions League and AFC Asian Cup. Among the world’s other most popular sports, tennis (including French Open, US Open), basketball (NBA), motorsports (MotoGP, Dakar Rally, NASCAR), cycling (Tour de France), rugby (Six Nations) and many more including handball (Qatar 2015) and gymnastics are also broadcast by beIN.

beIN offers complete spectrum of entertainment including blockbuster movies from around the world, stunning local and global entertainment besides best in class sports events all delivered through state of art technology. Through beIN SPORTS CONNECT beIN DTH subscribers as well as non-subscribers can access content anytime anywhere.

**donaldk** · 06-21-2016, 08:32 AM

Turner Esporte Interativo a leading sport channel in Brazil, has deployed ATEME Kyrion encoders and decoders to feed a new national video headend in São Paulo. As a first trial, Turner is using this future-proof solution to receive a major European football tournament in 4K-UHD from the International Broadcast Centre in France.

Based on the ATEME fifth Generation STREAM compression engine, the Kyrion encoder and decoder provides the best baseband video quality at minimum bitrates. This solution has been designed for contribution over satellite and IP networks, with added value features such as ultra-fast-boot, ultra-low latency, and ABR (Adaptive Bit Rate) output.

"Known for its high-quality service, Turner needed a solution that delivers the highest video quality while meeting our bandwidth constraints", said the EI/Turner Brazil operation and technology team. "With ATEME Kyrion encoder/decoder, we are now able to provide an exceptional viewing experience for a major European sport event while limiting our investment on link OPEX."

Gustavo Dutra, Brazil's country manager for broadcast at ATEME said: "Our Kyrion solution is future-proof, with a HEVC software upgrade option and pay-as-you-grow support: SD to HD to UHD, and MPEG2 to H.264 to HEVC. Turner Esporte Interativo is deploying the best-in-class solution while ensuring the future of its service with continue video quality enhancements."

**donaldk** · 06-22-2016, 03:38 AM

Public broadcaster VRT in the Northern half of Belgium offers the final rounds of the European Football championships in 4K on its Sporza sportschannel. In Holland incumbent telco KPN is using the channel to trial its 4K service to a small group of fiber-to-the-home users. The bitrate reportedly is rather low, so if it is worth it remains to be seen.

**donaldk** · 07-01-2016, 07:51 AM

Football from space: Eutelsat and Rai broadcast first of seven Euro2016 matches in live Ultra HD. Viewers receiving Tivùsat platform were offered the first quarter final, between Poland and Portugal, in Ultra HD.

From the first quarter finals match broadcast last night through to next week's final the European Football Championships in France are being captured and broadcast in 4K. The EBU/Eurovision providing an MPEG 4 AVC compressed 4K signal that was split up into four HD signals, and recombined at the IBC (International Broadcasting Center), where it is made available to rights holders. Including Rai. Rai then uses a non-MPEG compression system by V-Nova for the contribution of the 4K signal to the head-end of its Tivùsat DTH service, from wich it was recompressed (or perhaps even transcoded?) into MPEG HEVC for reception on 4K TV sets, with embedded DVB-S2 satellite receiver and HEVC decoder, and a seperate CI+ Conditional Access Module.

As we gathered earlier the matches are also available in a limited 4K trial in Holland, in Belgium, in France, in Portugal and in newly launched 4K services in Switzerland, and the Middle-East.

Yesterday's first quarter-final of the Euro2016 marked the kick-off of seven matches that Rai, Italy's national public broadcaster, and Eutelsat are offering Italian TV homes. The initiative with Eutelsat marks Rai's most ambitious foray into Ultra HD that represents the next big leap forward in broadcasting.

Images of the match were filmed by 14 Ultra HD cameras located by UEFA at the Vélodrome Stadium in Marseilles and sent to the International Broadcasting Centre (IBC) in Paris where they were forwarded to Eutelsat's Paris-Rambouillet teleport. A temporary studio set up by Rai at the teleport added live commentary, after which the special Rai 4K channel was encrypted and uplinked to Eutelsat's HOTBIRD satellites. Tivùsat homes equipped with an Ultra HD screen and a CAM certified by Tivùsat were able to watch the first quarter-final which will be followed on1, 2 and 3 July by the three other quarter finals, the semi-finals on 6 and 7 July and the final match on 10 July.

These live broadcasts of European Championship matches constitute Italy's most significant broadcast of live sport in Ultra HD and prefigure the launch of regular channels. With the take-up of Ultra HD screens in Italy expected to hit one million units by end 2016, the market for higher resolution TV is rapidly taking shape.

The special broadcasts also involve the support of industry-leading technology partners, including DBW COMMUNICATION and V-Nova that is providing the P.Link 4K, a software-based contribution encoding and decoding system that can contribute the highest signal quality from the IBC.

**donaldk** · 07-02-2016, 07:32 AM

And the vendor claims it allows EUROVISION to 'SCORE WITH NET INSIGHT FOR LIVE COVERAGE OF EURO 2016'. Supporting the European Broadcasting Union's live coverage of European football.

Eurovision has partnered with Net Insight, the leading provider of live, interactive and on-demand media transport, to support its live coverage of the UEFA European football championships. Net Insight's solution is being used for contribution and primary distribution services of media services, including for the 4K produced matches.

Net Insight first showed what it billed as uncompressed 4K distribution via a Telia network from Finland to Amsterdam one IBC half a decade ago, but of course 4K requires 12 Gigabit/s not the maximum of 10 available at the time, so there was a crude compression interlacing, 6 Gbit/s fitted very comfortably. Net Insight has been pioneering 4K distribution since. So, Net Insight is providing the network routing and management equipment for Eurvision's fiber based uncompressed video contribution and primary distribution network in France. No need for JPEG2000 or other lossless codecs just because it involves 'Internet Protocol' networks.

Major sporting events require quality and reliability as well as the ability to meet ever growing requirements in high bandwidth and switching capabilities. Net Insight's fibre network solution has been able to meet such requirements and therefore has been chosen by Eurovision. Thanks to this agreement Net Insight's solutions will be used by Eurovision for the foreseeable future.

"Television audiences today demand best-in-class live services when tuning in to watch live coverage of games during showpiece occasions, such as the European Championships," said Graham Warren, Director of Network at Eurovision. "We have a strategic, long-standing partnership with Net Insight that spans more than 10 years. Delivery of live coverage of European football is core business at Eurovision and together with Net Insight we can meet and exceed customer expectations in delivering high-quality live TV."

"Service providers need to prepare for the growing demand from consumers for rewarding and engaging live TV experiences, as well as adapting to the changes taking place across the media value chain," said Fredrik Tumegård, CEO of Net Insight. "Our background and capabilities in sports live TV, and the entire broadcasting media value chain, means we have the expertise and the technology, that will contribute to the success of Eurovision's live coverage of European football over its sophisticated and worldwide spanning Eurovision network. This remains the cornerstone of our mission to help customers stay competitive in a rapidly changing and increasingly demanding media and broadcast world."

Announcement

Italian Rai to broadcast EURO Footbal Championship finals in 4K on Eutelsat

Italian Rai to broadcast EURO Footbal Championship finals in 4K on Eutelsat

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