| NTV Plus НТВ Плюс |
|
|---|---|
| Launched | September 1, 1996 |
| Owned by | Gazprom Media |
| Country | Russia |
| Website | NTV Plus NTV Plus Ukraine |
NTV Plus (Russian: НТВ Плюс) is the brand name for the Russian digital satellite television service from NTV, transmitted from Eutelsat's W4 satellite at 36.0°E & from Bonum 1 at 56.0°E. Previously a part of Vladimir Gusinsky's media empire (Media Most holding), now it is included in the Gazprom Media holding.
Contents |
1996 - First broadcasts of NTV-Plus appeared on September 1, 1996
1997 - Since early in the year the channels were broadcast in encoded form.
1998 - On November 22 NTV-Plus started satellite TV broadcasting.
1999 - In February NTV-Plus switched from an analogue to digital broadcasting system allowing the expansion of the number of channels from five to fifty. In December NTV-Plus started re-broadcasting digital channels in two languages.
2000 - On May 25 another Eutelsat-W4 satellite was put into orbit allowing the expansion of the broadcasting area.
2005 - Beginning of Dolby Digital 5.1 broadcasting
2006 - Broadcasting begins in Ukraine territory
2007 - Broadcasting in HDTV
Starting from 2007, NTV Plus offers high-definition television (HDTV) programming. The following channels are offered: HD Kino (cinema), HD Sport (sports), HD Life (nature & travel), Eurosport HD, Discovery HD, MTV/Nickelodeon HD, National Geographics HD (nature), Mezzo Live HD (classical and jazz music).[1]
The content is either produced by NTV Plus itself or received from foreign partners. The programming is delivered in 1080i25 format using H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec with 10 Mbit/s data rate. NTV Plus has contracted with France's Thomson to manufacture the receivers that accept signal encoded in MPEG-4.[2]