Globecast, the global solutions provider for media, announced that it’s expanding its relationship with South Korean English-language TV network Arirang TV, aimed at international audiences, to broadcast in HD across Western Europe on satellite Astra 1L at 19.2°E, beginning this month.

Lee, Yong-Jae Distribution Director at Arirang TV, said, “We have a highly valued relationship with Globecast and we very much trust the technical expertise and the quality of services they provide. Given the strength of our relationship, it made absolute sense to expand our partnership, trusting Globecast with this next phase of our company’s growth. Platforms across Europe were eager for us to upgrade to HD, but this had to be achieved as cost-effectively as possible.”

Globecast is handling multiple distribution services for the South Korean broadcaster: on Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13B in SD across all of Europe; Astra 2G for in HD for the UK; and now this new HD service. The channel is being simulcast across Western Europe for three months in SD and HD. Globecast is uplinking Arirang TV to the Astra platform via Sainte-Assise, its main teleport in France. The channel will be processed in MPEG-4 DVB-S on the same SD transponder that Arirang is on now to avoid any frequency interruption.

Arirang TV, operated by the Korea International Broadcasting Foundation, is based in Seoul and aimed at an overseas audience. It began broadcasting HD content to homes in the UK and in Asia in 2016, and this deal with Globecast means the broadcaster will now reach approximately 26 million homes in HD across Western Europe with its 24-hour news and Korean cultural content in HD.

Seechai Tan, Head of Sales at Globecast Asia, said, “Arirang TV had a stringent budget for expansion in the European market but they were very keen to upgrade their channel to HD to meet affiliate and viewer demand for a higher quality service. We studied the market together and came up with the best solution for them to help them shape the future development of their business.”