If pay-TV multichannel provider Premiere World has its way, German television viewers will be watching HDTV in November 2005.
Speaking at IBC, company CEO Georg Kofler announced that Premiere World will begin offering MPEG-4 compressed movies, sports and documentaries in high definition by Nov. 1, 2005.
Initially, the company will target between 300,000 and 500,000 viewers for the HD services.
Kofler said hitting the November 2005 target is ambitious, but because of talks with vendors on implementing MPEG-4 in STBs, it’s possible.
One of the factors behind Premiere World’s decision to quickly begin its preliminary HD drive was the plummeting price of flat-screen displays. Another reason for the HD push was the upcoming 2006 World Cup, which will have a high level of viewership.
