Demonstration of a Samsung Ultra-HD TV. Photo: Flickr user Karlis Dambrans

[Via Satellite 06-16-2014] Eutelsat Communications, in partnership with ST Teleport, is set to introduce its 4K TV channel on the Eutelsat 70B satellite reaching Southeast Asia and Australia. Ateme and Thomson Video Networks are encoding content on the channel in High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) at 50 frames per second with 10-bit color depth.

The channel will be displayed on a Samsung 65-inch panel television at CommunicAsia 2014 in Singapore, and can be received directly by consumer 4K TV panels equipped with Second Generation Digital Video Broadcasting – Satellite (DVB S2) standard demodulators and HEVC decoders. The channel will broadcast a library of documentary, cultural and sports content filmed by various television channels and production companies, as well as Eutelsat. This channel launch follows Eutelsat’s first demo 4K channel in January 2013, and its HEVC channel introduction in Europe in May 2014.

“The remarkable technology progress of the last 18 months is creating a favorable economic environment for the commercial launch of Ultra-HD that is poised to propel broadcasting into a new era,” said Markus Fritz, director of marketing and commercial development at Eutelsat.