Ibler will assume immediate responsibility for the marketing team while continuing to oversee commercial operations, as HD Plus seeks to align its market communication more closely with retail partners and strengthen its customer-focused strategy. According to the company, the move is intended to streamline coordination between strategy and execution across retail, platform and promotional activities.

Ibler has held various sales roles at HD Plus over several years and has been closely involved in shaping the platform’s commercial and brand strategy, including campaigns, retail partnerships and platform positioning. He has worked with major retail chains, online platforms and TV and device manufacturers as the company expanded its distribution footprint.

“With the new structure, we are bringing sales and marketing even closer together and creating shorter paths from strategy to execution at the point of sale and across all communication channels,” said Christoph Mühleib, Managing Director of HD Plus. “Raoul Ibler combines many years of sales experience with a clear understanding of brand, customers and retail. Together with the teams, he will further strengthen our position in the market.”

HD Plus provides access to high-definition television channels and additional TV services via satellite and IP in Germany. Its HD+ TV app aggregates linear channels, catch-up services and streaming content in a unified interface on compatible connected TVs and devices. The wholly owned subsidiary of satellite operator SES offers more than 100 HD channels via Astra (19.2° East), including UHD services, and has expanded availability in recent years to include IP-connected TV sets, mobile devices and its own IP TV stick.

The new offers, available immediately to all IPTV cloud customers, provide HD content with interactive features such as replay, recording and personalised recommendations.

Each package is available for €5.90 (recommended retail price) and includes a curated selection of genre-specific channels, catering to growing consumer demand for tailored, high-quality programming.

The Film & Serie HD package brings a cinematic experience to viewers’ homes with 12 channels offering blockbuster films, critically acclaimed series and cult classics. The package includes:

Kinowelt TV HD
Romance TV HD
Warner TV Comedy HD
Warner TV Film HD
Warner TV Serie HD
Kabeleins classics HD*
ProSieben FUN HD*
Sat.1 emotions HD*
AXN White HD*
AXN Black HD*
RTL Passion HD*
RTL Crime HD*

Sports fans can enjoy a wide range of live events, background reports and exclusive programmes through the Sport HD package. The 10 included channels cover football, motorsports, equestrian events, martial arts and more:

Automotorsport Channel HD
Motorvision TV HD
Eurosport 2 HD
Fight24 HD*
Clipmyhorse.TV HD*
Waidwerk HD
Sportdigital Fußball HD
Sportdigital Edge HD
Sportdigital 1+ HD*
eSports One HD*

For viewers interested in factual programming, the Doku HD package offers gripping documentaries and factual content across topics such as nature, science, history and society. The nine-channel line-up includes:

Animal Planet HD
Discovery Channel HD
Bergblick HD
Crime+Investigation HD
History Channel HD
Spiegel Geschichte HD*
Curiosity Channel HD*
RTL Living HD*
GEO HD*

[Channels marked with * are new channels in Ocilion’s portfolio]

“With these new pay-TV packages, we are responding to the growing demand for high-quality, tailor-made content. Our partners benefit from additional monetisation opportunities, while end customers can access programming that better reflects their interests. These genre-specific bundles expand our content portfolio by 15 new channels,” said Kristin Koepke, Head of Content at Ocilion.

With the new multi-year agreement, the German-language free-to-air TV channel will continue to be available in HD quality to DTH satellite households in Germany, Austria and Switzerland via the Astra position 19.2° East.

Shop LC is a subsidiary of VGL Global, a producer of jewellery, cosmetics, home accessories, fashion and other items. With over 40 years of experience, the VGL Group has its own production facilities in India, Thailand and China.

Over the past 17 years, the company has established teleshopping channels in the UK, the US and Germany.

After the launch in SD resolution in March 2023, Vodafone now also distributes the channel in HD quality to its more than 12 million cable households across Germany. SD distribution will continue in parallel.

DTH satellite households can also receive Shop LC Deutschland in both SD and HD resolution via Astra (19.2° East).

ShopLC is a Shop TJC company, part of the VGL Global group in India. The group has also been operating TV channels in the UK and the US for more than 14 years.

The TV channel will then only be available in HD quality via satellite. The reason for the move is “efficient distribution”, in other words lower broadcast costs, writes Austrian newspaper Der Standard.

ProSiebenSat1Puls4 does not expect any loss of audience as a result of the move, as ATV is now mainly watched in the HD version. Viewers can tell by the channel logo whether they are already using the HD signal or still the SD version.

The total number of TV households decreased to 36.30 million in 2022 (2021: 37.22 million). DTH satellite TV reaches a market share of 45.0% with 16.34 million TV households (2020: 17.00 million or 45.7%). Cable TV serves 15.21 million TV households and achieves a market share of 41.9% (2021: 15.58 million or 41.9%).

IPTV rises to 3.61 million TV households, which corresponds to a market share of 9.9% (2021: 3.31 million or 8.9%). The number of DTT households amounts to 1.14 million, resulting in a market share of 3.1% (2021: 1.33 million or 3.6%).

These are the core results of the Astra TV Monitor 2022, which market research institute Kantar compiles annually on behalf of satellite operator Astra. They are based on 36.30 million TV households in Germany. The survey of a total of 6,000 households throughout Germany took place at the end of 2022. The figures refer to the main TV reception device of each household.

The number of HD households in Germany in 2022 amounted to 33.43 million (2021: 33.76 million). This means that 92% of all TV households in Germany received TV channels in HD quality. DTH satellite TV is the leading distribution infrastructure for HD channels, reaching 15.24 million households, followed by cable with 13.45 million, IPTV (3.6 million) and DTT (1.14 million).

The HD gap is still considerable: 2.87 million TV households still receive TV channels solely in SD resolution, including 1.10 million DTH satellite households.

The switchover, which will take place automatically and at no extra cost to subscribers, will affect 27 channels from the Sky Cinema, Sky Sport and Sky Fußball Bundesliga brands:

Sky Cinema: Sky Cinema Premieren SD, Sky Cinema Premieren +24 SD, Sky Cinema Best Of SD, Sky Cinema Action SD and Sky Cinema Family SD.

Sky Sport: Sky Sport 1 SD, Sky Sport 2 SD, Sky Sport 3 SD, Sky Sport 4 SD, Sky Sport 5 SD, Sky Sport 6 SD, Sky Sport 7 SD, Sky Sport 8 SD, Sky Sport 9 SD, Sky Sport Tennis SD and Sky Sport Top Event SD

Sky Fußball Bundesliga: Sky Sport Bundesliga 1 SD, Sky Sport Bundesliga 2 SD, Sky Sport Bundesliga 3 SD, Sky Sport Bundesliga 4 SD, Sky Sport Bundesliga 5 SD, Sky Sport Bundesliga 6 SD, Sky Sport Bundesliga 7 SD, Sky Sport Bundesliga 8 SD, Sky Sport Bundesliga 9 SD, Sky Sport Bundesliga SD and Sky Sport Top Event SD.

Commenting on the background of the move, a Sky spokesman told Broadband TV News: “The parallel distribution of Sky content via linear channels in SD and HD is associated with high costs. Therefore, most Sky channels will be broadcast exclusively in HD from now on. We want to invest the saved costs in our content and in the technical infrastructure to further improve the Sky experience.”

The switchover to HD concerns DTH satellite, cable and IPTV distribution, said the spokesman. The affected customers have been informed by email or letter over the past two weeks that they will be able to receive several channels in HD from March 22 at no additional cost, he added.

However, Sky does not intend to use the capacity freed up by the SD switch-off to expand its TV offering: “New channels are not currently planned,” said the spokesperson.

Sky is informing its customers about the upcoming switchover on a special website. In November 2018, the pay-TV operator began switching off the first SD channels.

The renewed agreement covers the HD broadcast of ZDF’s channels. In May 2020, ZDF had already extended its contract with SES for SD distribution.

“Information and education, sports or entertainment: For millions of people, ZDF is irreplaceable in many respects – across all population and age groups. The agreement ensures that satellite TV households will continue to receive the offerings in the best HD quality for years to come,” said Christoph Mühleib, Managing Director of SES Germany and responsible for the business of SES and Astra in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Stingray Classica, Stingray iConcerts and Stingray Djazz are now available in the MagentaTV basic package, as Tom Adams, Managing Director of Stingray Deutschland, told German industry publication Cable!vision Europe at ANGA COM 2022 in Cologne. The three linear 24-hour services are offered in HD resolution.

With the launch of the TV channels, Stingray is expanding its cooperation with Deutsche Telekom. The company is already represented with its content on MagentaMusik: Around 100 pop and rock concerts from Stingray’s rights stock can be accessed on web portal www.magentamusik.de. The ad-financed, free video-on-demand service (AVOD) can also be used by non-Telekom customers.

With linear, ad-financed streaming channels (FAST Channels) in HD quality, Stingray is also part of the smart TV platforms of Samsung, LG and other brands. Smart TV apps with a subscription function are in preparation, said Adams.

Stingray is also on board the electric vehicles of Elon Musk’s car brand Tesla: The interactive karaoke channel “Caraoke” is integrated in the in-car entertainment system of every Tesla car worldwide, inviting passengers to sing along at the touch of a button. Talks are underway with other car manufacturers to integrate Stingray offerings into their on-board entertainment system, Adams confirmed.

Following the launch of Shop LC in SD resolution on the networks of over 40 cable operators organised in industry association DNMG, reaching over 1 million households in total, the extended contract forms the basis for Shop LC to now gradually expand HD distribution.

“We are very pleased that shopping channel Shop LC Deutschland, which is now one year old, has established itself so successfully in the networks and with the viewers and has been able to achieve such perfect start. Now the next logical step is HD distribution,” said DNMG chief negotiator Damian Lohmann.

Deepak Mishra, Managing Director of Shop LC Deutschland, added: “DNMG has made it possible for us to be carried by more than 40 network operators in a very short time and to be steadily added to more networks. We look forward to offering Shop LC in HD to present our products to viewers in the picture quality they deserve.”