[Satellite Today 04-27-09] International Datacasting Corp.‘s (IDC) wholly owned subsidiary, ProFline B.V., has been awarded a contract to provide a next-generation satellite distribution network to German public broadcaster Sud-West-Rundfunk (SWR), IDC announced April 23.
    ProFline will provide an end-to-end system to SWR, based in Stuttgart, covers Southwestern Germany and reaches an estimated 14.7 million residents. The value of the contract was not disclosed.
    Separately, IDC and Sensio Technologies Inc. began the first operational rollout of live 3-D in high definition for digital cinema in Europe. The first 3-D live broadcast via satellite was April 19 baseketball game in Europe to multiple locations throughout Italy. The event was broadcast by OpenSky, whch purchased and installed Pro Cinema 3D live Decoders as an add-on to the digital cinema broadcast network previously provided by IDC.
    The Sensio 3-D technology used in the system adds additional revenue generating capability to Opensky’s satellite broadband DVB-S2 distribution network, which has been deployed specifically for live events and alternate content delivery to theatres across Europe equipped with digital cinema projection systems. As part of the digital cinema service offering, OpenSky has formed the 3D Stereoscopic group, a partnership with dBW Communication and Eutelsat for the end-to-end production and distribution of 3D live events across Europe.