Cyfrowy Polsat takes more Eutelsat capacity for HD rollout

Polish pay TV operator Cyfrowy Polsat has taken additional capacity on Eutelsat’s Hot Bird video neighbourhood to “further accelerate the availability of HD content” to its base of 3.5 million subscribers. 

At the same time, Cyfrowy Polsat signed a multi-year deal to extend the lease of existing capacity from Eutelsat.

With the new capacity, Cyfrowy Polsat’s satellite platform and its wholly-owned broadcasting company, Telewizja Polsathas, have now leased a total of six Hot Bird transponders.

“As Poland’s leading media group and the largest satellite pay-TV platform, Cyfrowy Polsat has placed HDTV at the heart of our growth strategy. The new satellite resources at Eutelsat’s Hot Bird environment will enable us to further expand our channel offering,” said Cyfrowy Polsat’s CTO, Dariusz Dzialkowski.

In total, the firm said that 80% of its subscribers have HD set-top-boxes to access the 37 HD channels included in the 130 Polish channels carried by Cyfrowy Polsat platform.