Pro Sieben intends to relaunch its promotion service for the six channel audio system Dolby Digital 5.1, in which the German general interest channel has been airing selected movies since August 1999, as the first broadcaster in Europe.

Since August 2000 some advertisements carry the sound technology as well. According to Erich Merkle, head of the Munich-based channel’s technical department, the contract with SES, operator of the Astra satellite system (19.2 degrees East), has run out, thus the showcast feed was switched off.

“We are very thankful that SES has granted us the possibility to present Dolby Digital to a broad audience for over a year. If SES in future provided capacity for it again, we would welcome that very much,” stressed Merkle. The promo channel was broadcast free-to-air on Astra transponder 116 (12.670 GHz V, SR 22.000, FEC 5/6) and showed the capabilities of the advanced sound technology. A special Dolby Digital box in addition to a digital set-top-box with Dolby Digital output is needed to receive it.