SES as expected: Video “challenging”, Networks booming
April 26, 2019
By Chris Forrester
SES Q1 numbers (to March 31st) showed overall revenues down 2.3 per cent at €489.6 million, with its Video division suffering badly with revenues down 7.3 per cent. The operator’s Network division continues to perform well with revenues up 5.4 per cent.
US Video revenues showed a similar decline where it is heavily involved in delivering video to cable and IP operators, down 4.5 per cent. However, another strong performance was the company’s ‘Government’ division which grew 9.6 per cent and ‘Mobility’ which saw 8.7 per cent growth.
“As expected, North American revenue decreased, primarily driven by the reduction in wholesale business related to a specific satellite used by a single customer. The ongoing switch-off of Standard Definition TV channels, which had already been replaced with HD TV channels, also contributed to the lower (year-on-year) revenue development in this region,” said SES.
CEO Steve Collar said: “Notwithstanding challenging market conditions in Video, SES’s reach continued to grow and we now deliver prime video content to over 355 million households or one billion people across our video neighbourhoods around the world. The recent deals we signed with Discovery, Nordic Entertainment Group and Crown Media highlight our approach to partner with the biggest broadcasters to deliver the best services and viewing experiences anywhere to any device. In addition, we continued to expand our international footprint with new partnerships such as Benin and our growing technical reach in Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America.”
SES’s contract backlog at 31 March 2019 was €6.7 billion.
SES says it is now delivering 8,289 TV channels around the world, up 7 per cent y-o-y.