Sky Deutschland marks Ultra HD world first: Successful end-to-end Ultra HD live broadcast of a football match

- Sky makes the next major step by broadcasting the first football match over satellite in Ultra HD (HEVC with 50fps) as a part of an internal showcase
- Seven goals in brilliant resolution: The 5:2 victory of FC Bayern Munich over SV Werder Bremen on the 32nd Bundesliga matchday was broadcast with a resolution of 2160p50
- Six 4K cameras as well as upconverted signals of four HD cameras delivered ultra-sharp live video from the Allianz Arena

Unterföhring, 5 May 2014 – With the Ultra HD test of the football match between FC Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund in December 2012, Sky Deutschland laid the foundation for the development of Ultra HD. This test was followed by many further productions, both on and off the football pitch, with the goal of gradually approaching a full end-to-end Ultra HD live production capability. And then, on 26 April, during the match between FC Bayern Munich and SV Werder Bremen on the 32nd Bundesliga matchday, it was time: The world’s first football match broadcast live over satellite in Ultra HD with 50 frames per second (50fps) – encoded with the new HEVC (High Effi-ciency Video Coding) standard. A total of six 4K cameras combined with another four HD cameras, which were upconverted to Ultra HD in the broadcast van, delivered an exciting match with seven goals and a victory for Bayern with a resolution of 2160p50 on several Ultra HD televisions in Sky’s headquarters in Unterföhring.

Brian Sullivan, CEO of Sky Deutschland: “By successfully broadcasting a complete Bundesliga match live in what was a true end-to-end test of the full Ultra HD produc-tion chain, it is clear that the day is getting closer when it will be possible to bring a top quality Ultra HD live sport production into the living rooms of consumers.There are still a few things to take care of, but I am very confident that we as the innovation leader, along with our partners, are on a very good path to revolutionizing the viewing experi-ence.”

The broadcast was supported by the DFL (Deutsche Fußball Liga) and Sportcast and successfully carried out in collaboration with technology partners Topvision (sport production), MTI Teleport München GmbH (contribution link), SES Platform Services GmbH (playout center), Fraunhofer HHI/Rohde & Schwarz (HEVC encoding, first half), Elemental (HEVC encoding, second half), SES Astra (uplink), Technicolor (UHD HEVC receiver), ViXS (UHD chipset) and Samsung (UHD displays). In the broadcast van, technologies from Vizrt (4K graphics), EVS (UHD server, time loops) and Quantel (UHD server, highlight loops) were used.

The first results will be presented at the Samsung Curved Ultra HD press event in Mu-nich on 7 May at 1.30pm by Stephan Heimbecher, Head of Innovations and Standards at Sky Deutschland.

About Sky Deutschland:
Sky Deutschland AG is the leading pay-TV company in Germany and Austria with around 3.7 million subscribers and revenues amounting to more than 1.5 billion Euros. The listed MDAX company offers subscription TV as well as on-demand services for private and business customers.

The Sky platform comprises more than 70 exclusive TV channels, almost all of which are also available in HD. Sky’s program portfolio comprises live sports – and also the only German 24/7 sports news channel – feature films, TV series, children's programs, and documentaries. The Sky+ hard disk receiver allows for time-shifted TV, and the Sky Anytime media library enables customers to enjoy hundreds of constantly changing titles. Moreover, the Sky Go over-the-top service provides access to Sky programming via mobile devices and PCs.

Snap by Sky, a comprehensive online media library, covers the VoD sector: The service provides unlimited access anywhere and also allows downloads of thousands of titles – among them blockbusters, classic films, complete series box sets, and children's programs.

Sky is the innovation leader in the German and Austrian TV markets. In the past two decades, Sky has played a major role in establishing pay-TV as the third pillar of TV en-tertainment alongside fee-financed and advertising-financed broadcasters. Sky has around 2,000 employees and is based in Unterföhring near Munich.

Contact for media:
Stefan Bortenschlager
Consumer Communications
Tel. +49 89 9958 6871
stefan.bortenschlager@sky.de
twitter.com/SkyDeutschland
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