The industry and providers were ready, consumers were informed, but then came the coronavirus: due to the current crisis, the German public broadcaster ARD does not consider it appropriate to switch off the standard definition (SD) signal of its TV channels on the Astra satellite (19.2 East).

Therefore, the SD shutdown, scheduled for January 2021, will be postponed, sources at ARD report. Earlier, the public broadcaster ZDF had already decided to continue satellite transmission of SD and extended its contract with the operator SES Astra. Officially, the details of the duration and terms of the contracts are not available, but according to industry sources, the agreements initially run until 2025 and can be terminated annually.

It is said that SES has provided public broadcasters with favorable financial terms. This may have made it easier for ARD and ZDF to make the decision, as the KEF commission for the state license no longer provides broadcasters with the specified budget for distributing SD on satellites. Thus, ARD and ZDF have to finance the expenses, transferring funds from other budgets.

Broadcasters have decided that additional costs for viewers during the corona crisis are not appropriate, especially the purchase of new receiving equipment.

Moreover, public broadcasters and services play a special role in the corona crisis, when the population's need for information is particularly high. Accordingly, the deadlines for the technical transition were unfavorable with the danger of disconnecting individual households.

According to the Astra TV Monitor 2019, 85% (14.65 million) German DTH satellites already receive television in HD quality. Only 2.63 million still rely on SD resolution and will be affected by the transition.

With their decision, ARD and ZDF are in line with commercial broadcasters, which will also continue broadcasting in SD resolution on the satellite. In January 2020, RTL and ProSiebenSat.1 signed long-term contracts with SES to distribute SD signals of their channels via the Astra satellite.