Deutsche Telekom strikes HD deal with ProSiebenSat.1

Deutsche Telekom and ProSiebenSat.1 have struck an agreement for the carriage of the latter’s channels on Deutsche Telekom’s Entertain TV service.

On March 30, ProSieben HD, Sat.1 HD, Kabel Eins HD, Sixx HD, N24 HD and Tele 5 HD will be added to the Entertain IPTV line up. The channels will be bundled with others including Nickelodeon HD, Comedy Central HD, Sport 1 HD, MTV HD and MTV Live HD in an HD Start package, which will be available free of charge for one year to customers who sign up before the end of August and available at €4.95 a month thereafter. The deal also provides for the mobile distribution of selected TV programmes of the TV stations ProSieben, Sat.1, and Kabel Eins through Telekom’s mobile TV service.

Conrad Albert, head of legal, distribution and regulatory affairs on ProSiebenSat.1’s board of directors, said: “The progressive digitisation of distribution channels and content is having a lasting impact on the entertainment and media landscape; it also fosters innovation, which means added value not only for us, but for our viewers as well. Therefore, we are very pleased with the expansion of this strategic partnership.”

ProSiebenSat.1 will also make its standard definition free and pay TV channels available on the Entertain platform under a new long-term distribution deal.

Christian Illek, head of marketing at Deutsch Telekom said that Entertain would boost its HD offering to around 20 channels by the end of this year. From March Deutsche Telekom will make its HD offering available to all customers with 16Mbps internet connections, taking the service to a larger group of potential subscribers. Customers with 16Mbps connections will not however be able to watch one channel while recording another.