Additional capacity on 28.2° East / New programs: Five Life and Five US

SES ASTRA, an SES GLOBAL company (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG), has announced today that it has signed a new transponder contract with the British commercial TV broadcaster Five. The additional capacity will primarily be used for the company’s two new channels – Five Life and Five US – which will be launched in October. The broadcaster will initially take half of a transponder at the orbital position 28.2° East and ramp up to a full transponder in the second half of 2007.

Five attracts around 30 million viewers a week and generates over £300 million in advertising revenue - around 8.6% of the UK total. The company is owned by Europe’s largest broadcaster, the RTL Group, which operates 34 TV and 34 radio stations across Europe. 

“With this additional agreement, we continue to consolidate our position as Europe’s leading direct-to-home (DTH) satellite company in an extremely competitive environment”, said Alexander Oudendijk, Chief Commercial Officer of SES ASTRA. “We are very pleased about our strong business relationship with Five and will continue to offer the best service possible to all our customers.”

Chris Anning, CTO for Five, said: “Five has come a long way since its launch in 1997; we have gone from a standing start to an audience share of over 6%. Considering the huge changes in the broadcast landscape over the last six or seven years that’s quite a feat. To meet the challenges of the next few years and further increase our overall audience share we will be launching exciting new channels and this transponder deal will give us the capacity we need to expand.”

About SES ASTRA       www.ses-astra.com

The ASTRA Satellite System is the leading Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite system in Europe, delivering services to some 107 million Direct-to-Home and cable households. The ASTRA satellite fleet currently comprises 13 satellites, transmitting in excess of 1600 analogue and digital television and radio channels as well as multimedia and Internet services. ASTRA's two prime orbital positions for DTH services are 19.2° East and 28.2° East. Professional services such as Direct-to cable (DTC), Satellite Newsgathering (SNG) and Occasional Use are offered from the orbital position of 23.5° East.

SES ASTRA is an SES GLOBAL company (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG). SES GLOBAL wholly owns three market-leading satellite operators, SES ASTRA in Europe, SES AMERICOM in the US and New Skies Satellites in the rest of the world. The Company also holds strategic participations in AsiaSat in Asia, Star One in Latin America, SES Sirius in Europe, Ciel in Canada and Quetzsat in Mexico. Americom Government Services provides network solutions and bandwidth to the US government and its contractors. SES GLOBAL provides outstanding satellite communications solutions via a fleet of 44 satellites across the globe. Additional info on SES GLOBAL at: www.ses-global.com.

About Five           www.five.tv

Five was launched as the fifth and final terrestrial channel on March 30th, 1997 and has since built a strong reputation for its broad range of quality programmes - the BAFTA award winning children's strand Milkshake!, America’s Finest dramas with titles such as the CSI franchise and the Emmy winning House alongside factual series such as The Singing Estate and Extraordinary People, as well as original comedy such as Respectable and Swinging. Plus this October Five launches its digital channels Five Life and Five US.

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