Pope Francis’ Christmas Eve Midnight Mass to be broadcast in UHD

On December 24, the Christmas Night Mass – presided over by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Basilica – is to be broadcast live via satellite in Ultra HD on Rai 4K on channel 210 of the Tivùsat free-to-air satellite platform. A team of specialist vendors and service providers – including Globecast, Eutelsat, Rai, Sony and Tivùsat – is providing the required resources to bring the event to Italian homes via UHD.

The initiative will take place under the auspices of the Segreteria per la Comunicazione of the Holy See, led by the Prefect Monsignor Dario EdoardoViganò, who is managing the event. This is being handled via the Audiovisual Production part of the Vatican and sees the international debut of Vatican Media, the new brand that is managing and developing multimedia productions for the Vatican. This is one of the reforms of the Holy See’s communications system as requested by Pope Francis.

T Italian viewers who own a 4K-ready TV equipped with the Tivùsat CAMable will be able to view the Ultra HD signal. The event will be broadcast simultaneously on Rai 1 and on Rai 1 HD via digital terrestrial TV and satellite, as well across the world through the usual distribution used by the Vatican.

Alessandro Alquati, General Manager of Globecast Italia, commented: “One year after the transmission of the Holy Door Closing Ceremony in Ultra HD, and at a time of particular importance for the transition to 4K, Globecast is honored and proud to be involved in the Holy See’s Segreteria per la Comunicazione,working together with a powerful team of technological partners. Special thanks go to NTT Electronics for providing the 4K HEVC encoding equipment.”