Akado, a TV cabler headquartered in Moscow, said it's shooting to become a major player in HD services in Russia in the next couple of years. The next big step in its HD efforts is scheduled for next week (Dec. 1), when it will add more HD channels to its HD tier (including a duo of VOD movie options).
The new HD offerings will include Women's World HD and High Life HD, to be distributed by First HD in tandem with Akado. First HD is based in St. Petersburg, Russia. The additions will bring Akado's HD tier to an even dozen HD channels for now, with more coming soon, it promises.
Besides the new High Life and Women's World entries, the remainder of the Akado/First HD package of 12 outlets will include documentary channels (notably National Geographic HD from America and its home-grown Teleputeshestviya HD), several entertainment channels (including HD Live, myZen.tv and Voom HD), and a pair of VOD movie channels (On-Demand HD-1 and On-Demand HD-2).
Rounding out the HD services package will be Eurosport HD (sports) and Expert-TV HD (all-news).
Akado said it rolled out its first HD channel for Moscow and other Russian regions (Kinopokaz HD) in late 2008.
