Euro1080 was the first commercial broadcaster in Europe to broadcast full-time

high-definition television High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since 1936; in more recent times, it refers to the g ...

(HDTV) content. It was founded by

Gabriel Fehervari Gabriel Fehervari (born Wilrijk, 1960) is a Belgian businessman and was the CEO of the former ''Alfacam Group'', which consisted of three divisions: Alfacam, Euro1080 and Eurolinx. Alfacam was declared bankrupt on 19 April 2013. He is the son o ...

in 2004 and is owned by Alfacam, of which declared bankrupt in 2013. The name originates from the 1080 lines of vertical resolution in the signal broadcast, which is

1080i50 1080i (also known as Full HD or BT.709) is a combination of frame resolution and scan type. 1080i is used in high-definition television (HDTV) and high-definition video. The number "1080" refers to the number of horizontal lines on the screen. T ...

- 1920 x 1080 at an interlaced frame rate of 50 Hz. The signal uses

Dolby Digital Dolby Digital, originally synonymous with Dolby AC-3, is the name for what has now become a family of audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. Formerly named Dolby Stereo Digital until 1995, the audio compression is lossy ...

5.1 sound. The headquarters and studios are located in Belgium at the Eurocam Media Center. The parent company of Euro1080 is the Belgium-based Alfacam Group. Euro1080 began broadcasting on 1 January 2004 from the Astra 1H satellite at 19.2° east and was free to air during its first few months. Thereafter, a €200 conditional access card was required to watch the flagship channel HD1. In addition to HD1, whose content is primarily HDTV showcasing for regular users, a second channel was soon created, HD2 focusing on live and recorded HDTV broadcasts of special event for selected theatres. Euro1080 currently broadcasts HD1 and HD3 on the following satellite: *

Eutelsat Eutelsat S.A. is a French satellite operator. Providing coverage over the entire European continent, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas, it is the world's third-largest satellite operator in terms of revenues. Eutelsat's satellit ...

W3A at 7°E, 10.880 MHz, DVB-S2, QPSK, Symbol rate 13.333 Mbit/s, Vertical, FEC 4/5, MPEG4. It is also possible to receive it from a growing number of cable operators. Two channels have been temporarily removed recently: * HD2 (previously HDevents or Hde): broadcasts premium events in

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program guid ...

. * HD5 (timesharing with HD2): promotional channel, broadcasting a six-minute informative video about HDTV and what Euro1080 is, as well a brief glimpse of the previous day's footage. A new channel was launched in 2008: *

HD3 Euro1080 was the first commercial broadcaster in Europe to broadcast full-time high-definition television (HDTV) content. It was founded by Gabriel Fehervari in 2004 and is owned by Alfacam, of which declared bankrupt in 2013. The name origi ...

: Culture with music. (HD1 then became a sports channel.) In October 2005, HD1 and HD2 simulcast in both MPEG-4 and MPEG-2. This dual encoding lasted until 2007. Telenet, the main cable operator in

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

, confirmed as part of its launch announcement of "Telenet Digital TV" on 16 June 2005 that it would sell HDTV set-top-boxes from June 2006. Since July 2005, the cable operator Integan has broadcast HDTV in the outskirts of the city of

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, in partnership with Euro1080. On 1 October 2006 Euro1080 started a new digital culture channel named EXQI. The first target audience was the Flemish and Dutch market, but the channel has expansion plans to more than 10 channels for the major European countries. On 7 January 2007 Euro1080 switched to

MPEG-4 AVC Advanced Video Coding (AVC), also referred to as H.264 or MPEG-4 Part 10, is a video compression standard based on block-oriented, motion-compensated coding. It is by far the most commonly used format for the recording, compression, and distri ...

for its satellite broadcasts. MPEG-2 broadcasts for HD1 were switched off on 1 January 2008.

External links

Official web site

Euro1080 press announcement

Euro 1080 channels
{{CATV Europe Satellite television High-definition television Television networks in Belgium Dutch-language television networks French-language television networks Belgian companies established in 2004 Mass media companies established in 2004 Television channels and stations established in 2004