LUXEMBOURG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SES ASTRA, an SES company (Paris:SESG) (LuxX:SESG), announced today that it has signed an agreement for satellite capacity with ITV, the UK commercial broadcaster. The long-term agreement provides for the renewal of ITV's existing capacity and for additional capacity to support future development with ITV's channel offer. ITV currently utilizes six transponders at ASTRA's prime 28.2 degrees East orbital position, serving the UK and Ireland. Under the new contract it will progressively activate three further transponders.
Ferdinand Kayser, Chief Commercial Officer of SES, said: "We are delighted to have signed this agreement with ITV. It reinforces our valued partnership with this flagship customer and underpins our efforts to grow our offer to customers and bring additional capacity to the UK market."
Paul Dale, Chief Technology Officer of ITV plc said: “We’re delighted to have agreed this new deal with SES. Continuing to exploit our content offer across platforms is a core part of ITV’s Transformation Plan and, in addition to renewing our existing capacity, this new agreement gives ITV additional flexibility for future development and growth on satellite.”
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 and to 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.
About ITV
ITV’s Broadcasting business operates its family of channels, ITV1, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4 and CITV, which are broadcast free-to-air on analogue (ITV1 only), Freeview, digital satellite (Sky/ Freesat) and cable. Aside from the HD channels, ITV’s channels are delivered free of charge to consumers and are funded primarily by advertising revenues, alongside sponsorship revenues and interactive revenues (viewer competitions and voting). ITV1 is the largest commercial channel in the UK. It consistently attracts the largest audiences of any UK commercial broadcaster and has the greatest share of the UK television advertising market at 45.1%. ITV’s digital channels continue to grow their audiences and most recently saw the launch of high definition (HD) versions of ITV1 on Freeview and Sky and ITV2, 3 and 4 on Sky behind the paywall. ITV1+1 was also recently launched.