Globecast Launches New Euronews HD Channel at Eutelsat HOTBIRD Position

World-first launch of Euronews HD underscores implementation of Eutelsat strategy to propel transition from SD to HD at HOTBIRD position

PARIS--()--Regulatory News:

Eutelsat Communications (Paris:ETL):

Globecast, the global solutions provider for media, announces it has been contracted by Euronews, the most-watched international news channel in Europe to bring its new HD channel to viewers across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. The channel’s world-first launch in HD on 1 November from Eutelsat’s HOTBIRD video neighbourhood follows the announcement by Eutelsat and Globecast at IBC 2016 to drive HD growth at Eutelsat’s most popular broadcast location.

Euronews covers world news and broadcasts in SD, 24 hours-a-day, seven days-a-week in 13 languages: Arabic, English, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish and Ukrainian. Globecast has an ongoing relationship with the channel, distributing the SD variant. The new HD version of Euronews in English is encoded in MPEG-4 DVB S2 in a new HOTBIRD platform designed to host premium international news and information channels.

Didier Mainard, Executive Vice President Sales, Marketing and Communication at Globecast, said: “Globecast and Eutelsat have teamed up in order to enrich the HOTBIRD orbital position, which is the number one in the world in terms of free-to-air channels with a wide DTH footprint including Europe, Middle East and North Africa. Globecast has been working very closely across both technical and commercial angles with Euronews for the past few months to bring the HD variant to viewers. We are very pleased that Euronews has extended its relationship with us.”

François Schmitt, Chief Operating Officer at Euronews: “We bring premium news content to viewers across the HOTBIRD footprint and we have very strong reach in the business sector. We recognise that the time is right for us to launch our HD offering. We are now able to bring premium news HD content to existing viewers, including premium hotels targeting business travellers and high-end tourists from all over the world, hospitality organisations, cable and IPTV operators as well as home viewers.”

Michel Azibert, Eutelsat’s Chief Commercial Officer said: “We are delighted that the HOTBIRD platform is the first in the world to broadcast Euronews in HD and to see the rewards of our partnership with Globecast to propel the move to higher resolution particularly for free-to-air content.”

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About Globecast
Part of the Orange Group, Globecast provides agile and seamless content acquisition, management and distribution services globally. The company constantly innovates in an evolving IP-centric environment to provide reliable and secure customer solutions. Globecast has created the number one global hybrid fiber and satellite network for video contribution and distribution. This network enables multiplatform delivery including TV Everywhere OTT, Satellite, cable, Video on demand, CDN delivery as well as cloud-enabled media services. The company remains the trusted partner for coverage and international delivery of news, sports, and special events around the globe.
Customers enjoy a seamless global experience on the ground from 12 interconnected Globecast owned facilities, including Los Angeles, London, Singapore, Paris, Rome, and Johannesburg. www.globecast.com

About Euronews
Euronews is the most-watched international news channel in Europe and is a full multimedia platform for viewers on the move. Euronews covers world news and broadcasts in 13 different languages 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in Arabic, English, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish and Ukrainian. Since its launch in 1993, Euronews has been striving to supply factually-correct information in a non-superficial format. Far from political interests, Euronews is already the ultimate TV journalism laboratory. Every day, Euronews’ team of over 400 journalists of 25 different nationalities work together reporting on relevant stories to serve our global audience, driven by a solid uncompromising journalism.
The concept has proven to be efficient; Euronews is the European leader in terms of audience figures in spite of the increasing competition.
www.Euronews.com

About Eutelsat Communications
Established in 1977, Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL, ISIN code: FR0010221234) is one of the world's leading and most experienced operators of communications satellites. The company provides capacity on 38 satellites to clients that include broadcasters and broadcasting associations, pay-TV operators, video, data and Internet service providers, enterprises and government agencies. Eutelsat’s satellites provide ubiquitous coverage of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Americas, enabling video, data, broadband and government communications to be established irrespective of a user’s location. Headquartered in Paris, with offices and teleports around the globe, Eutelsat represents a workforce of 1,000 men and women from 37 countries who are experts in their fields and work with clients to deliver the highest quality of service.
For more about Eutelsat please visit www.eutelsat.com

Contacts

Globecast
Press contact:
Bazeli Mbo, Tel: +33 1 5595 2604
Bazeli.mbo@globecast.com
or
Euronews
Lydie Bonvallet, Tel: +33 4 28 67 05 35
lydie.bonvallet@euronews.com
or
Eutelsat Communications
Press
Vanessa O’Connor, Tel: + 33 1 53 98 37 91
voconnor@eutelsat.com
Marie-Sophie Ecuer, Tel: + 33 1 53 98 37 91
mecuer@eutelsat.com
Investors and analysts
Joanna Darlington, Tel. : +33 1 53 98 35 30
jdarlington@eutelsat.com
Cédric Pugni, Tel. : +33 1 53 98 35 30
cpugni@eutelsat.com

Release Summary

Globecast launches new Euronews HD channel at Eutelsat HOTBIRD position.

Contacts

Globecast
Press contact:
Bazeli Mbo, Tel: +33 1 5595 2604
Bazeli.mbo@globecast.com
or
Euronews
Lydie Bonvallet, Tel: +33 4 28 67 05 35
lydie.bonvallet@euronews.com
or
Eutelsat Communications
Press
Vanessa O’Connor, Tel: + 33 1 53 98 37 91
voconnor@eutelsat.com
Marie-Sophie Ecuer, Tel: + 33 1 53 98 37 91
mecuer@eutelsat.com
Investors and analysts
Joanna Darlington, Tel. : +33 1 53 98 35 30
jdarlington@eutelsat.com
Cédric Pugni, Tel. : +33 1 53 98 35 30
cpugni@eutelsat.com