Advanced Television

SES claims Asia-Pacific DTH leadership

June 20, 2012

By Chris Forrester

Satellite operator SES used the giant CommunicAsia show in Singapore to highlight its market leadership in terms of broadcasting and channel transmissions in the region.

SES says it is now the leading satellite operator carrying the highest number of pay DTH channels in the region, with nearly 650 DTH channels. It also reaches 20 million pay TV homes in the region via DTH, or one in three DTH subscribers in Asia – more than any other satellite operator.

SES’ prime orbital locations at 108.2 degrees East and 95 degrees East have been established as key video neighbourhoods in South Asia and Asia-Pacific which meet the growing needs of Asian DTH operators such as DishTV and Bharti Airtel in India, and MediaScape in the Philippines.

SES-8, which will be launched in Q1/2013, will deliver vital expansion capacity to thriving Asian video neighbourhoods in South Asia and Indochina. SES currently operates a fleet of five satellites (NSS-12, NSS-6, NSS-11, SES-7 and NSS-9) serving Asia-Pacific.

Deepak Mathur, SVP-Commercial, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East at SES, said: “The growth of the DTH market in Asia-Pacific has been tremendous over the past five years and is a key reason why the demand for satellite capacity continues to grow in the region. We are delighted that consumers here are increasingly turning to the power of satellite technology to meet their needs for richer, higher quality content. As Asia goes digital, we are proud to be an enabler and will continue to invest in growth capacity for the region to grow with our customers as well as tailor our satellites to meet our customers’ unique needs.”

SES also used the show to announce a new multi-year deal with Cignal, a Philippines-based satellite TV provider owned by MediaScape. SES is providing additional capacity on its SES-7 satellite at 108.2 degrees East. With this capacity expansion MediaScape will utilise transponders on both SES-7 and NSS-11, satellites that are co-located at the same orbital location.

The additional satellite capacity will initially enable MediaScape to ramp up Cignal TV’s Direct-to-Home (DTH) offering to 15 HDTV channels and 51 Standard Definition channels, up from 9 HD channels and 37 SD channels in 2011. Cignal, the largest and fastest growing satellite TV provider in the Philippines, currently serves over 250,000 subscribers across the country.

Categories: Articles, DTH/Satellite