On Sept. 21, 2026, space solutions provider SES and South Asian media conglomerate JioStar finalized a multi-year agreement to deliver linear television distribution services across India and the broader Indian sub-continent.
Under the contract, SES will utilize the IS-20 geostationary satellite to broadcast JioStar’s portfolio of entertainment and sports channels directly to cable headends, Direct-to-Home (DTH) operators, and digital broadcast distribution networks.
Fleet Integration and Regional Market Context
The migration of JioStar’s television channel bouquet to IS-20 leverages consolidated geostationary capacity following SES’s acquisition of Intelsat in July 2025. The $3.1 billion transaction unified Intelsat’s IS-series geostationary assets with SES’s existing ASTRA and O3b fleets, creating a consolidated operator managing over 120 spacecraft across geostationary and medium Earth orbits.
The South Asian media landscape represents one of the world’s largest linear broadcast markets, where JioStar’s combined television network and streaming platforms reach more than 800 million viewers weekly. Securing long-term satellite capacity on an established regional video neighborhood ensures continuous transmission reliability for high-definition and standard-definition programming across dense urban hubs and underserved rural regions.
Satellite Specifications and Payload Capabilities
The IS-20 spacecraft operates from a primary geostationary orbital slot, delivering wide-beam C-band and Ku-band coverage tailored for media distribution, telecommunications backhaul, and government communications across Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
The platform utilizes a high-power digital payload engineered to maximize spectral efficiency and signal resilience against regional rain fade and atmospheric attenuation. By utilizing IS-20’s C-band transponders for primary video distribution, JioStar secures resilient signal delivery to regional cable headends, while Ku-band beams support high-density direct broadcast interfaces.
The satellite’s established orbital placement simplifies ground station alignment for Indian broadcast distributors, allowing local operators to aggregate JioStar’s channel feeds without reorienting existing receiving antennas.
Executive Viewpoints
“JioStar is one of the most iconic and known media brands in India, and we are proud to support their regionwide broadcast operations,” said Deepak Mathur, President of the Media Vertical at SES. “With IS-20, JioStar can serve audiences across India and beyond with confidence, while benefiting from resilient infrastructure, strong performance and SES’s commitment to excellence. We look forward to building on this partnership in the years to come.“
“Our partnership with SES marks an exciting new chapter for JioStar as our bouquet of television channels continue to reach millions of homes across India, allowing viewers to continue accessing the content they love,” added Rajat Nigam, Head of Technology & Media Operations at JioStar. “We’re happy to expand our reach and continue delivering the high-quality programming that our audiences have come to expect of us over the years.“
Regional Broadcast Operations Outlook
As linear television viewership across South Asia continues to expand alongside digital streaming platforms, the transition of JioStar’s channel distribution to SES highlights the ongoing role of geostationary satellite networks in primary media delivery. SES will continue optimizing its unified orbital assets to maintain video transmission stability while expanding managed service offerings across the Asia-Pacific region through 2027.
