LUXEMBOURG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SES ASTRA, an SES company (Paris:SESG) (LuxX:SESG), announced today that the ProsiebenSat.1 Group has signed a long-term capacity contract for one transponder with SES ASTRA. The new transponder will be used to broadcast the channels SAT.1 Österreich HD, ProSieben Austria HD, kabel eins austria HD and PULS 4 HD.
The new high definition offer for Austria will be marketed by AustriaSat – a full subsidiary of the M7 Group – as part of the HDaustria package for all satellite households with an ORF smartcard. ASTRA Platform Services will handle the uplink to the ASTRA satellite system, HD encoding and signal encryption.
Austria remains one of the most dynamic markets in Europe for high definition television. With the launch of four additional HD channels, satellite TV viewers in Austria will soon be able to receive 21 German-language HD channels via ASTRA.
About SES ASTRA
SES ASTRA is the leading Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite system in Europe. The satellite fleet currently comprises 17 satellites which deliver services to more than 135 million households and transmit more than 2,500 television and radio channels. SES ASTRA also provides satellite-based multimedia, internet and telecommunication services to enterprises, governments and their agencies. With more than 200 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