DigiTurk Goes 3D

Turkey’s DigiTurk pay-TV platform is to start carrying 3D programming, with shows coming from media giant Dogan, and its ‘Cool Smart’ HDTV channel. Programming itself will be supplied by Munich-based Telcast Media Group. Cool Smart will feature Telcast’s major 12-part travel series 3-D Planet, its 3-D Safari specials made in Africa and Indonesia and Mega Shark. Telcast claims a worldwide leadership in 3D programming, “thanks to the vision of CEO Thomas Hohenacker known as one of German television’s great innovators.”

The link with Dogan will be helped by Dogan’s huge publishing operation (it publishes two out of the top 3 Turkish daily newspapers), and the distribution of free 3D glasses to view the 3D output, which uses Telcast’s True Reality system. “Telcast’s 3D productions offer magical 3-D quality with 3D glasses but, unlike its competitors, also guarantee crystal clear picture quality to the naked eye,” says the company.

Angelika Stebbings, Telcast International Senior Sales Manager who negotiated the deal said: “I am delighted that Cool Smart will be showing Telcast’s 3D programming on HD as it recognizes the extraordinary 2-D quality of the programmes. However to ensure that Cool Smart viewers get the full breathtaking effect of 3D the group’s listing magazine D-Smart will carry free 3D glasses for every reader. This is Telcast’s first agreement with Dogan and I hope it will be the beginning of a long and mutually beneficial relationship.”

By Chris Forrester, RapidTV News