Sony-Vatican TV Deal Will Put Pope in HD

05-03-2010

VATICAN CITY, MARCH 4, 2010 (Zenit.org).- A new agreement between Sony and the Vatican Television Center will make high definition images of the Pope available by October, according to the director of the Vatican press office.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, who also directs Vatican TV, announced the development in a statement today. Vatican TV is purchasing a mobile unit from Sony that allows for television filming in high definition.

Father Lombardi said the deal is part of Vatican TV's intention to stay abreast of technological developments, and that HD is the new "frontier of television production."

"It is consolidating rapidly and increasingly there are more channels that broadcast in high definition," he noted. "Therefore, it has seemed necessary to be in conditions to produce to the measure of the highest standards, to be protected from the risk of the diffusion of events related to the activity of the Pope and of the Holy See, in the very near future, being delegated to others."

The Knights of Columbus will help finance the new mobile unit.

http://www.zenit.org/article-28535?l=english