Advanced Television

RAI to air Medici in 4K

October 12, 2016

By Chris Forrester

Italian public broadcaster RAI is to transmit an eight-episode drama, shot in Ultra-HD, to Italian viewers starting on October 18th.

The show, Medici: Masters of Florence, an historical drama starring Dustin Hoffman and chronicling the rise of the Italian Renaissance political dynasty will be available exclusively in the RAI 4K channel on Italy’s Tivùsat platform that broadcasts through Eutelsat’s HOTBIRD satellites.

Tivùsat homes equipped with an Ultra HD set will be accompanied by HD broadcasts of the series on RAI 1. RAI is collaborating with Eutelsat, MThree and DBW Communication on Ultra HD transmissions, continuing the partnership started earlier this year on live broadcasts of Euro 2016 football matches.

For Eutelsat, this production is new evidence of the emergence of the Ultra HD market and the capability of satellites to provide the bandwidth needed to broadcast linear and event-driven content. For Renato Farina, MD of Eutelsat Italy: “A growing library of native and high-quality Ultra HD content is one of the conditions for UHD to firmly take root in consumer homes. RAI’s commissioning of ‘Medicis: Masters of Florence’ is a strong signal to viewers and we are proud to be part of the delivery chain to Italian TV homes.”

Ealier this week, Zive in France revealed it would also be airing the same show in 4K.

Categories: Articles, Production, UHD