Vatican Television unveils HDTV mobile unit

(November 16, 2010) The Vatican on Tuesday unveiled a new high-definition mobile television unit to let the Vatican broadcast papal events in high definition (HD) from various locations. The new HD Van for the use of Vatican Television Centre (CTV), paid for by the Knights of Columbus and CTV and offered at a discount by Sony, will let the Vatican keep up with the rapidly developing high-definition technology that is increasingly becoming the norm for broadcasters, documentary makers and others. The mobile unit was presented at a press conference by Vatican spokesman and director of CTV Fr. Federico Lombardi and Archbishop Claudio Celli, president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Social Communications and CTV president, among others. Fr. Lombardi said that on an average there are over 200 live broadcasts of papal events per year. High-definition television, or HDTV, is a digital broadcasting system for television that offers greater resolution and a sharper image than found in traditional formats. CTV, however, is not new to HDTV. Its first papal event on HDTV was a special April 15, 2007 Mass celebrating Pope Benedict XVI's April 16 birthday.