20 September 2004
SES ASTRA has further strengthened its position as the UK’s leading direct-to-home (DTH) satellite company with a major two-transponder contract with Channel 4.
It is SES ASTRA’s first direct deal with the British terrestrial channel, and the transmission capacity will be used across a variety of Channel 4’s digital channels as well as its extensive range of associated interactive TV applications.
David Scott, Deputy Chief Executive of Channel 4, said: “These transponders will provide Channel 4 with considerable flexibility when considering the expansion and future development of our broadcast services. We have worked with SES ASTRA in the past and look forward to a continued successful relationship.”
Alexander Oudendijk, SES ASTRA Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, said: “Channel 4 programmes are watched by more than 75% of the UK population during an average week and we are delighted to add such a prominent terrestrial broadcaster to our client list. The UK is an extremely important market for SES ASTRA and this deal not only strengthens our position in the UK but also underpins our status as Europe’s leading DTH satellite company.”
On 15 September, SES ASTRA had announced its first transponder contract with the Broadcast division of communications giant ntl. The agreement gives ntl additional capacity in the rapidly expanding UK market for small channel launches.
The deal allows ntl to offer a seamless one-stop-shop solution including studio facilities and playout services from its Broadcast Media Centre at Feltham, contribution links, and the ASTRA 28.2° East satellite uplink and downlink. It will be of particular interest to new broadcasters and satellite channel start-ups.
ntl’s Broadcast division provides end-to-end service solutions for satellite channels and transmission services for terrestrial broadcasters. The company uplinks around 150 services from three teleports in London and Hampshire. It also provides comprehensive studio and playout services, and a full range of satellite newsgathering facilities including fully crewed production and uplink vehicles.
ASTRA’s 13 satellites transmit over 1400 analogue and digital TV and radio channels as well as multimedia and internet services. Its two prime DTH orbital positions are 19.2° East and 28.2° East. Professional services such as Satellite News Gathering and Cable Contribution transmit from 23.5° and 5.2 °East.
20 September 2004
On 16 September Intelsat announced that is has decided to end its 51% participation in Galaxy Satellite TV Holdings Limited of Hong Kong, whose subsidiary Galaxy Satellite Broadcasting Limited provides local and international pay-TV programming to the Hong Kong market.
Intelsats partner in the Galaxy business, TVB, will acquire Intelsats share in the joint venture and has agreed to release Intelsat from any future cash contributions. A related existing agreement for Intelsats in-kind contribution of satellite capacity on the IS-709 satellite will end on 31 March 2005. Intelsats financial results for the period ended 30 September 2004 will reflect a non-cash charge of approximately $30 million to write down the Galaxy investment.
We continue to believe that Galaxys service offering represents an attractive alternative for pay-TV subscribers in Hong Kong, said Conny Kullman, CEO of Intelsat. Galaxys growth has been slower than anticipated, however, and it is not in Intelsats strategic interest to invest additional resources and management time on this business.
20 September 2004
The Advert Channel has signed a three-year contract with independent global communications company, Inmedia, that will see Britain get its first 24 hour TV station dedicated solely to airing adverts. Broadcasting on the Sky digital satellite channel 694, the Advert Channel is dedicated to bringing viewers the best (and worst) TV adverts from around the world, with a focus on adverts as a form of entertainment, culture and from an artistic and creative aspect.
Love them or hate them, everyone has an opinion on adverts, says the channels co-founder, Chelsey Baker. Programmes on the station will include Ad Chat, where presenters will chat live about the top TV adverts; Advert Focus, looking at ads making the news; Adverts for You, featuring the adverts that make you laugh, cry and those that are controversial; and Adverts Today, a behind-the-scenes look at how top adverts are made. Themed shows will focus on commercials of a certain era and segments, such as ads from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, late night adverts, sports and celebrity adverts.
The deal will ensure the smooth delivery of the new channels 24 hour programming to Skys 7.3 million subscribers using Inmedias fully-managed playout and satellite uplinking via its EUROBIRD transponder.
16 September 2004
SES ASTRA and ORF announced at the International Broadcasting Convention IBC 2004 in Amsterdam the signing of a long-term agreement on the use of additional ASTRA transponder capacity by Austria’s leading public broadcaster.
ORF will start utilizing the additional transmission capacity on ASTRA’s orbital position of 19.2° East in 2004. At the same time, the existing contracts between ORF and SES ASTRA have been extended. The agreement further consolidates a mutually beneficial partnership that has been in place for many years.
Andreas Gall, Technical Director of ORF, commented: “With the extension of our transponder capacity we have, on the one hand, laid the foundation for providing our TV viewers and radio audiences with best-quality programs and improvements to current services for years to come. Furthermore, with these new transmission capacites we can extend our role as a service provider for other TV, radio and data suppliers. With our existing know-how we can provide a full service offer for these clients – from the encryption and the up-linking to the transmission itself.”
Ferdinand Kayser, President and CEO of SES ASTRA, stated: “We are very pleased about this extension of our cooperation with such a renowned public broadcasting company as ORF. The expanded product range offered by our longstanding partner will further enhance the programming choice available from Europe’s most popular orbital position of 19.2°East.”
Also at IBC 2004, SES ASTRA and Clear Television Network from the Netherlands announced a contract for the digital free-to-air satellite distribution of Clear TV, a new Dutch TV channel across Europe. The channel, which primarily serves viewers interested in other cultures, will start on 15 September via the ASTRA Satellite System at 19.2° East. All programmes will be broadcast in the original languages and subtitled in Dutch.
“We believe that the amount of interesting and entertaining programs from other countries and cultures broadcast via the existing Dutch TV networks is rather limited”, says Vanessa Somers, general manager of Clear TV. From 15 September onwards, Clear TV will therefore broadcast free-to-air via ASTRA a broad mix of entertaining and interesting programmes from a variety of countries from all over the world. Somers says: “Clear TV will feature multiple genres: films, series, game shows and lots of sport. We focus on non-mainstream sports, which are currently offered only limited airtime on Dutch television. This means not only sports such as martial arts and water sports, but also squash, rugby and basketball.
Broadcasting free-to-air via ASTRA at 19.2 degrees East, Clear TV can be received by 10,4 million digital DTH homes throughout Europe, of which circa 500.000 are in the Netherlands.
16 September 2004
Nordic Satellite AB and Euro 1080 have signed an agreement to broadcast the HDTV channel HD1 via Sirius to the Nordic and Baltic regions. HD1 is the first European HD channel offering a mix of music, sports, lifestyle, wildlife and soon also fiction. Broadcasts on SIRIUS will begin in October 2004. To receive HD1, viewers need a separate satellite receiver and subscription (as well as a satellite dish aimed at SIRIUS). The receiver costs about SEK 5,000. Viewers will also pay a one-time fee of about SEK 2,000 for a subscription through 2010.
HDTV is the TV format of tomorrow and we want to be among the first to offer people this possibility. That’s why we support industry efforts to find solutions for distribution, compression, and coding that will allow HDTV to rapidly become affordable in a wide market. SES ASTRA has taken the initiative to formulate common specifications for HDTV receiving equipment in Europe. NSAB-SIRIUS is helping to accomplish this in the Nordic countries, says Benny Norling, General Manager, Broadcasting Services at Nordic Satellite AB (NSAB-SIRIUS).
We are very excited about distributing the HD1 HDTV channel on SIRIUS, says Gabriel Fehervari, CEO of Euro 1080. Weve seen interest grow ever since we started transmission this year on the ASTRA satellite. Now that we have a perfect footprint for the Nordic market, we will extend our reach to this region where we see a potential growth for HDTV services due to the high penetration of home theatre systems.
Satellite is currently the best distribution form for HDTV, which requires up to four times more bandwidth than a digital TV channel. The terrestrial network is not built for HDTV and does not have enough bandwidth today for several HDTV channels, though in Finland HD1 is available in one cable network.
Nordic Satellite AB is jointly owned by the Swedisch Space Corporation and SES-Global. NSAB owns and operates the satellites in the SIRIUS system.
