Rai
and
Eutelsat
team
up
in
Italy
for
record
number
of
live
Ultra
HD
broadcasts
of
Euro
2016
matches
Rai,
Italy’s
national
public
broadcaster
and
Eutelsat
are
teaming
up
to
deliver
unprecedented
live
coverage
of
premium
sport
in
Ultra
HD.
Following
an
agreement
between
the
two
companies,
seven
matches
of
the
Euro
2016
championship
will
be
offered
to
Italian
TV
homes
receiving
Tivùsat,
the
free-to-view
platform
distributed
by
satellite
from
Eutelsat’s
HOT
BIRD
video
neighbourhood.
The
initiative
with
Eutelsat
marks
Rai’s
most
ambitious
foray
into
Ultra
HD
that
represents
the
next
big
leap
forward
in
broadcasting.
Unprecedented
Ultra
HD
broadcasts
The
live
broadcasts
of
European
Championship
matches
constitute
Italy’s
most
significant
satellite
broadcast
of
live
sport
in
Ultra
HD
and
prefigure
the
launch
of
regular
channels.
They
begin
on
30
June,
with
the
first
match
of
the
quarter-finals,
followed
on
1, 2
and
3
July
by
the
other
quarter
final
matches.
The
semi-finals
will
be
broadcast
in
Ultra
HD
on 6
and
7
July
with
the
final
scheduled
for
10
July.
Viewers
equipped
with
an
Ultra
HD
screen
and
a
CAM
certified
by
Tivùsat
will
be
able
to
watch
the
matches
by
tuning
to
the
number
of
the
special
channel
to
be
activated
by
Tivùsat
for
the
championship.
Take-up
of
Ultra
HD
screens
in
Italy
is
accelerating,
with
ANITEC,
the
Italian
association
representing
the
ICT
industry,
forecasting
that
sales
will
surpass
one
million
units
by
end
2016.
The
special
broadcasts
also
involve
the
support
of
industry-leading
technology
partners,
including
V-Nova
from
the
UK
that
will
provide
the
P.Link
4K,
a
software-based
contribution
encoding
and
decoding
system
that
will
contribute
the
highest
signal
quality
from
the
International
Broadcasting
Centre
to
be
located
in
Paris.
Rai
roster
of
11
channels
broadcasting
in
HD
by
satellite
by
end
2016
Eutelsat
and
Rai
are
also
collaborating
on
the
complete
upscale
to
HD
of
11
Rai
channels
broadcast
by
satellite.
Five
channels
are
already
available
in
HD
via
Tivùsat
(Rai
1,
Rai
2,
Rai
3,
Rai
Sport
1
and
Rai
4),
to
be
joined
in
May
by
Rai
Movie
and
Rai
Premium.
The
complete
upgrade
will
be
achieved
by
end
2016.
