Photo: Eutelsat

[Via Satellite 06-08-2015] SPI International, operator of more than 30 TV channels on four continents, and German broadcaster ANIXE are both planning to display new original Ultra-HD content this week at the Anga Com conference and exhibition in Cologne, Germany on Eutelsat’s Hot Bird 4K1 TV platform. For SPI International, the demo represents the first preview of native Ultra-HD content to be shown by “4K FunBox UHD,” a new fully commercial channel scheduled to launch this fall at Eutelsat’s Hot Bird position.

The 4K FunBox UHD channel will address cable and IP network operators and Direct-to-Home (DTH) communities in Germany and other key TV markets within the Hot Bird footprint. ANIXE HD Television has selected Anga Com to air 15 minutes of exclusive Ultra-HD content, comprised of extracts from lifestyle and documentary magazines, a cooking show, a cinema magazine and outdoor productions filmed with Ultra-HD cameras.

Broadcast Free-to-Air (FTA) across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, Eutelsat’s Hot Bird 4K1 channel can be received DTH and by cable and IP network operators using 4K televisions equipped with suitable demodulators and High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) decoders. Eutelsat launched the channel in May 2014, encoded in HEVC and broadcasting at 50 frames per second with 10-bit color depth.