7th Anniversary of the First High Definition Production in Spain

posted:

19/01/2011

Cope del Rey matches, FIFA World Cup matches, African Cup matches, operas and concerts - all produced in HD

It’s now 7 years since the very first HD broadcast in Spain and the first stepping stone towards regular HD broadcasts of football matches. MEDIAPRO led the way with its very own HD outside broadcast van. The first match was a Copa del Rey game between Real Madrid and Eibar in January 2004 for the American World Sports network, which later became Rainbow.

Since the first game produced in HD in February 2004 with one in-house outside broadcast van, MEDIAPRO has gone on to acquire more than 15 vans equipped with HD technology. Along with the numerous own technology outside broadcast vans, the new IMAGINA US production centre located in Miami, Florida has just recently been opened and features three HD 24/7 channels and is one of the leading TV producers in the Spanish speaking market in the USA and countries in Latin America.

In 2004, MEDIAPRO invested heavily in cutting edge technology to be able to satisfy the demand for productions in high definition. It acquired the most advanced equipment to go from the 625 lines of the PAL system to the 1080 of HD and incorporate digital sound. At that moment the principle MEDIAPRO clients were from the US and Japanese markets as they were regularly broadcasting TV programmes using the innovative system.

From that moment on and to the present day, the number of HD productions has increased considerably both at home and abroad. The number of European channels broadcasting exclusively in HD has grown tremendously since the launch of the first network, Euro1080, back in 2004.

MEDIAPRO currently carries out multiple broadcasts in high definition across the whole product range from TV programmes, TV-movies, advertising, cinema, documentaries, DVD’s etc. In addition, the football network GOL TELEVISIÓN is broadcast entirely in high definition and laSexta has recently launched laSextaHD.

The production of sports events still plays a lead role in the productions carried out in HD. This technology offers excellent picture and sound quality, and even more so when used for football matches on big cinema-size screens. In addition, since the start of MEDIAPRO production of the Spanish League, it’s the company which has broadcast most matches (80%) in HD.

Wide range of HD productions

From the first HD broadcasts of football matches from Spanish grounds and the recording of operas from the Royal Theatre in Madrid, MEDIAPRO has expanded its spectrum of productions immensely with highlights being, the Confederations Cup in 2005, the World Basketball Championships in Japan in 2006, the Final Four in Berlin in 2009, the World Cup from South Africa in 2010, the programme “La Liga” for World Sports, the very first HD show about the Spanish League for an American channel; operas from the Royal Theatre in Madrid, the Liceu in Barcelona, and the Euskalduna in Bilbao; films such as the spectacular “Su majestad Minor” by Jean-Jacques Annaud and “Salvador (Puig Antich)” by Manuel Huerga, one of the first films in the world to be filmed in HD in anamorphic format; documentaries currently being filmed about the engineer Carlos Fernández Casado and many others.

Now investments in 3D

The early-bird investment by MEDIAPRO in HD has also seen it lead the move to offering events in 3D such as its initiative to broadcast BBVA League matches using this technology. This season has seen the broadcast of the Barça – Madrid (5:0) match in 3D in big screen format as well as the Barça – Malaga (4:1) match played on 16 January, which was shown in the Malaga Exhibition Centre.

MEDIAPRO