[SatNews] SES (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG) announced at CommunicAsia2013 a new multi-year, multi-transponder deal with one of its largest customers in the Philippines, MediaScape Inc, on SES-7 at 108.2 degrees East. The new capacity expansion will allow MediaScape, through Cignal Digital TV—its DTH satellite television service provider—to further expand its services for the provision of DTH satellite TV in the Philippines. Cignal Digital TV currently offers 22 HD channels and 65 SD channels to more than half a million subscribers across the Philippine archipelago.
Deepak Mathur, Senior Vice President Commercial, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East at SES, said, “SES-7 is a powerful satellite for the Philippines, providing comprehensive coverage and high throughput across the Philippine islands. We are happy to be able to provide MediaScape with the additional capacity they need to help them meet the needs of their growing audiences and maintain their leading position in DTH satellite TV in the country.”
Annie Naval, MediaScape COO & Managing Director, said, “We have seen tremendous growth in subscriber numbers and demand for quality HD content. We are confident that extending our partnership with SES will allow us to maintain our position as the leader in DTH satellite TV in the Philippines by expanding our HD lineup to include a wider variety of premium programmes.”
Additionally, while attending CommunicAsia2013, SES also announced that Thailand’s IPMTV has broadened its partnership with SES. The broadcaster has contracted additional capacity on SES-8 and has renewed its multi-year capacity deal on NSS-6. SES-8 is expected to be launched later in 2013 and will be co-located with NSS-6 at the prime orbital location of 95 degrees East. The expanded capacity will enable IPMTV, an established satellite TV provider, to double its reach to 4 million households in Thailand by the end of the year. It currently broadcasts over 150 local channels to its subscribers, with 21 channels in HD.
Manop Tokarnka, CEO, IPMTV, said, “In addition to reaching more homes, the additional capacity will enable us to broadcast local content, allowing us to fill a gap in the broadcasting landscape which cannot be met easily by international players. We are delighted that we now have the flexibility to cover the news and events that resonate best with local audiences. We have a strong partnership with SES and look forward to exploring the development of HD content in Thailand in the future.”
A third SES contract cemented into place at CommunicAsia2013… Taiwanese communications provider Teleport Access Services (TAS) has renewed their capacity with SES to deliver a variety of TV programs and live coverage of breaking news throughout Taiwan via SES’ NSS-11 satellite located at 108.2 degrees East. TAS, a longstanding SES customer and the largest distributor of cable channels to cable headends in Taiwan, will use the capacity to broadcast TV content and provide satellite news gathering (SNG) services across the island.
Michael Kuo, President of TAS, said, “Taiwan is one of the most competitive media landscapes in Asia, with a high TV penetration rate and audiences that are accustomed to receiving breaking news immediately. Having been able to rely on SES for the past four years, we chose to extend our partnership and continue to utilise NSS-11 at this prime orbital location covering Taiwan. We are delighted to be able to leverage SES’s expertise to broadcast more channels to meet our growing business needs.”
“We are pleased that TAS has decided to renew the capacity with SES, as this reinforces the great reach of NSS-11 at 108.2 degrees East. As the leading satellite operator in Asia-Pacific, carrying the most number of DTH channels and reaching the largest number of DTH subscribers, we are thrilled to support TAS in delivering some of the best news and entertainment television to cable headends across the island,” said Deepak Mathur, Senior Vice President Commercial, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East at SES.
And yet another CommunicAsia announcement regarding SES providing backhaul to Pakistan.
SES also announced a multi-year multi-million dollar contract renewal with Supernet, Pakistan’s leading satellite network service provider. The deal will see Supernet contract C-band capacity on the SES NSS-12 satellite at the prime orbital location of 57 degrees East.
