LUXEMBOURG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SES ASTRA, an SES company (Paris:SESG) (LuxX:SESG), announced today a cooperation with Deutsche Telekom in Germany to combine ASTRA's broad satellite free-TV offer including HD+ with Deutsche Telekom's IPTV product Entertain. The offer will include all free-to-air, TV and radio channels in Standard and High Definition (HD) on ASTRA including HD+ as well as the typical Entertain services like Video on Demand, a TV archive and an Electronic Programme Guide. Entertain Sat also comprises time shift functions and hard disk recording with 500 GB memory. Flat rate telephony and Internet will also be included. Entertain Sat will be available for households all across Germany with a DSL connection of at least 3 Mbit/s.
HD+ is a platform launched by SES ASTRA in Germany for access to free-TV programmes in HD. The HD+ offer currently comprises eight German private free-TV programmes in HD: RTL HD, Vox HD, RTL2 HD, ProSieben HD, Sat.1 HD, kabel eins HD, Sport1 HD and sixx HD.
Ferdinand Kayser, President and CEO of SES ASTRA, said: ”The cooperation with Deutsche Telekom demonstrates the strengths of satellite reception and the attractiveness of HD+. The combination of the broad and high quality Direct-to-Home offer from ASTRA and HD+ with the additional interactive services from Deutsche Telekom creates an attractive media proposition.”
Christian P. Illek, Managing Director Marketing Telekom Deutschland, said: “Our Entertain service currently reaches about 20 million households in Germany. With our satellite offer, we will address new customer groups and convince even more customers of our TV offer. ASTRA's technical reach of more than 16 million satellite households in Germany and the switch-off of the analogue satellite reception in April 2012 represent a particularly interesting and attractive potential for Entertain Sat.”
About SES ASTRA
SES ASTRA is the leading Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite system in Europe. The satellite fleet currently comprises 16 satellites which deliver services to more than 125 million households and transmit more than 2,600 television and radio channels. SES ASTRA also provides satellite-based multimedia, internet and telecommunication services to enterprises, governments and their agencies. With 190 High Definition (HD) channels, ASTRA is the most important HDTV platform for Europe's leading broadcasters. The orbital positions for SES ASTRA are 19.2 degrees East, 28.2 degrees East, 23.5 degrees East, 5 degrees East and 31.5 degrees East. For further information: www.ses-astra.com.
About SES
SES (Paris:SESG) (LuxX:SESG) wholly owns the market-leading satellite operators SES ASTRA and SES WORLD SKIES, and participations in Ciel in Canada, QuetzSat in Mexico as well as a strategic participation in satellite infrastructure start-up O3b Networks. SES provides outstanding satellite communications solutions via a global fleet of 44 satellites. For further information: www.ses.com.
Entertain - Deutsche Telekom's TV service
With over 140 TV channels, an online video store and TV archive with 15,000 titles (2,000 of which are available in HD), around 2,500 national and international radio stations, and a range of interactive applications, Entertain is the undisputed leader on the German IPTV market. Around 20 million households have the option of subscribing to Entertain via a high-speed DSL line. Entertain Pur is available from EUR 27.95 (including TV and telephone line) or from EUR 44.95 (including TV, telephone flat rate and high-speed DSL flat rate).
About Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom is one of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies with around 129 million mobile customers, approximately 36 million fixed-network lines and more than 16 million broadband lines (as of December 31, 2010). The Group provides products and services for the fixed network, mobile communications, the Internet and IPTV for consumers, and ICT solutions for business customers and corporate customers. Deutsche Telekom is present in over 50 countries and has around 247,000 employees worldwide. The Group generated revenues of EUR 62.4 billion in the 2010 financial year – more than half of it outside Germany (as of December 31, 2010). See also: www.telekom.com