A recent announcement from SES saying that they were establishing a dedicated DTH service for Ethiopian viewers also confirms that it has persuaded many channels to “migrate” from Eutelsat. An investment bank now suggests that the about 20 lost private TV channels will cost Eutelsat around €1.5-€2 million in annual revenues.

Sami Kassab, an equity analyst at Exane/BNPP, says the lost Eutelsat channels were transmitting from Eutelsat 8 West B and will migrate to SES-owned NSS12 at 57 East from August 2019.

SES has undertaken to train local satellite installers to re-point dishes to 57 degrees East.

The bank’s note to clients says: “We estimate that these channels currently occupy 1 transponder (11515V) on Eutelsat 8W and generate around €1.5-2 million per annum of revenues for Eutelsat (0.2 per cent of Video revenues, very small but not insignificant for a stock driven by Video organic revenue trends). Eutelsat recently won a contract with public broadcasters Ethiopia Broadcasting Corporation and confirmed this contract would go ahead.”

SES is due to unveil its quarterly results on July 26th, while Eutelsat’s numbers will be released on July 31st. More detail on the moves, and the financial impact to both operators, is likely to emerge on those dates.

Categories: Articles, Broadcast, DTH/Satellite