Eutelsat Communications has secured a multi-year capacity contract at its flagship HOTBIRD neighbourhood with Spanish telco Telefónica.

Telefónica has selected Eutelsat’s key orbital position at 13° East to broadcast RTVE free-to-air content consisting of two HD channels: TVE Internacional Europa, the world’s farthest-reaching Spanish general interest channel, and the news channel, 24 Horas, as well as six RNE (Radio Nacional de España) radio stations.

RTVE will shortly benefit from the unrivalled audience of this hotspot covering Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. These channels were previously distributed on the 19.2° East orbital position.

Philippe Oliva, Eutelsat’s Chief Commercial Officer, said: “We are proud to have been selected by Telefónica to broadcast the content of a major public broadcaster on HOTBIRD. This demonstrates both the benefit of satellite as a broadcast infrastructure and the attractiveness of HOTBIRD as a key neighbourhood across Europe and the MENA region.”

Francisco Panduro, EMEA Sales Manager, Telefónica Audio-visual Services, added: “Thanks to this partnership with Eutelsat, we are delighted that Spanish and Hispanic households across Europe will soon be able to enjoy a rich offer of video and radio content from both TVE and RNE.”