Sofia Teleport, owned and operated by the Bulgarian telco Neterra, became the first satellite ground station in the region, to broadcast on the Astra 2C satellite, at 31.5°E, Astra's latest satellite position for Eastern Europe. The new service offers satellite contribution service of high-quality TV channels to cable head-ends, targeting TV channels in Bulgaria and Eastern Europe.
"We are very proud to cooperate with SES Astra in further developing the cable contribution market in Bulgaria. We also look forward to offer satellite distribution services to Eastern European customers outside Bulgaria on a regional level, which is in line with our strategy to integrate our international operations. The new satellite service provided by Neterra and SES Astra optimized for cable contribution purposes will definitely improve the quality of the TV channels viewed in every cable home." - said Neven Dilkov, Managing Director of Neterra.
Cable networks in Bulgaria and the Balkans region are highly fragmented with a plethora of small operators and the DTH service of established platforms in Bulgaria is often used for cable purposes. The current market situation in Bulgaria offers a business opportunity for Neterra and SES Astra to provide uplink and distribution services optimized for terrestrial and cable contribution.
"Backed by Neterra as our regional uplink partner in Bulgaria, SES Astra offers a very strong value proposition with Astra 31.5°E for cable contribution across the Balkan region. TV channels can benefit not only from a high quality uplink and distribution service, but also gain more control over the terrestrial and cable networks, over which the channels are distributed." - said Alexander Oudendijk, Chief Commercial Officer of SES Astra.
Bulgarian channel TV 7 will be the first client of this new satellite distribution service uplinked by Neterra from Sofia. By selecting Neterra's uplink service to Astra 31.5°E for its cable contribution, TV7 can operate independently from any bouquet provider in Bulgaria. As such, the channel will be able to benefit, both in terms of service quality and operational savings, from any future technological developments in distributing its signal.
More about Astra
SES ASTRA is the leading Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite system in Europe. The satellite fleet currently comprises 13 ASTRA and two SIRIUS satellites. The combined satellite system delivers services to more than 122 million DTH and cable households and transmits more than 2,500 analogue and digital television and radio channels. SES ASTRA also provides satellite-based multimedia, internet and telecommunication services to enterprises, governments and their agencies. With more than 80 High Definition (HD) channels on its main orbital positions, ASTRA and SIRIUS represent the most important HDTV platform for Europe's leading broadcasters. The prime orbital positions for ASTRA and SIRIUS are 19.2° East, 28.2° East, 23.5° East, 5° East and 31.5° East.
SES ASTRA is an SES company (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG). SES wholly owns SES ASTRA and SES WORLD SKIES, 90% of SES SIRIUS in Europe, and strategic participations in Ciel in Canada and QuetzSat in Mexico. SES provides outstanding satellite communications solutions via a global fleet of 40 satellites in 26 orbital locations.
For further information: www.ses.com.
More about Astra 2C
Astra 2C is a communications satellite owned and operated by SES Astra, providing digital television and radio broadcast services. The satellite provides two broadcast beams, each with horizontal and vertical polarization, across two footprints - 2C East and 2C West.
Astra 2C now provides coverage for Central and Eastern Europe from 31.5°E. The latest orbital position of the satellite extends the footprint and is the ideal platform for direct-to-cable (DTC) broadcasting, direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasting (including HDTV), cable contribution and DTT feeds.
More about TV7
TV 7 is a Bulgarian TV channel which started broadcasting a 24-hours programming on the 7th of November 2005. After the recent change of ownership and management, the channel will undergo a full rebranding and repositioning with a target to become one of the key players on Bulgarian TV market.
TV7 has chosen Neterra as a partner to support the broadcasting of the channel's program, known for the high technical quality and produced entirely in digital environment.