SES ASTRA and Stanice O, a media company based in Prague, Czech Republic, have teamed up for the free-to-air digital distribution of Czech channel TV Óèko. TV Óèko is Czech Republics first dedicated music and lifestyle channel with a strong emphasis on Czech and Slovak music.
Starting May 1st 2004, TV Óèko will be broadcasting free-to-air via the ASTRA Satellite
System at 19.2 degrees East (ASTRA 2C, transponder 57, 10832.25 MHz, Horizontal, 22
Msymb/s, FEC 5/6), currently reaching over 28 millions Direct-To-Home households in 30
European countries.
Alexander Oudendijk, SVP Sales & Marketing at SES ASTRA comments: We are very
pleased to have TV Óèko on board as our first Czech free-to-air TV channel. TV Óèko is
an attractive addition to our existing line-up of over 100 digital Free-to-Air TV channels.
Furthermore, the agreement with TV Óèko represents a further strengthening of ASTRAs
attractiveness and position in the Central and Eastern European market.
TV Óèko´s CEO, Jiri Balvin says: We decided to enter into an agreement with ASTRA
because of its high quality of service and optimal market reach in both the Czech and
Slovak Republics. Furthermore, the signing with SES ASTRA will enable our Czech and
Slovak artists to showcase their talents across Europe. In this respect, the start of TV
Óèko on ASTRA and the Czech and Slovak Republics entering the European Union on
the same date is a nice symbolic coincidence.