SES confirms Ethiopia presence at 57° W
July 24, 2019
By Chris Forrester
The apparent confusion over the loyalty of Ethiopia to either Eutelsat, where it has been a broadcaster at 7/8 degrees West, and its new commitment to SES, is now clearer.
As suggested in the past days, it is now confirmed that the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) is supporting both Eutelsat and SES.
A statement from SES confirmed the move: “The Ethiopian Broadcasting Cooperation (EBC) has agreed to be part of this dedicated Ethiopian bouquet [on SES], and NSS-12 is already broadcasting both the public and regional channels. The EBC has contracts in place to deliver their content from both 7/8 degrees West and 57 degrees East. Any future contracts must follow the normal EBC procurement process.”
The statement continued: “The Association of Ethiopian Broadcasters (AEB) at the same time has committed to the migration, with their private channels acting as the foundation for the new dedicated Ethiopian channel bouquet.”
In other words, the statement confirms the SES (and seemingly EBC/AEB) is committed to the all-important “migration” of channels from Eutelsat to SES. Meanwhile, Ethiopia will dual-emit its portfolio of channels.
Eutelsat sources reiterated the statement from EBC on July 19th from which reaffirmed its commitment to the agreement it entered with Eutelsat in February 2019 and suggested the multi-year contract for video capacity leased on the Eutelsat 8 WB Satellite following public tender remains valid and secures the partnership between the two companies and suggested there was nor immediate revenue impact.
SES will unveil its latest quarterly results on July 26th, while Eutelsat will declare its end-of-year numbers on July 31st.