"Global Access" contract with ChannelD
SES to provide satellite capacity over The Americas for German TV channel
Société Européenne des Satellites S.A. (Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SES; Frankfurt Stock Exchange: SDSL) and the privately owned German language TV station ChannelD have entered into a long-term contract under which SES will provide ChannelD with satellite transmission capacity over the Americas as well as a satellite-based transatlantic link.
This is SES' first contract for satellite capacity outside the Company's wholly owned ASTRA system, Europe's leading satellite system for direct-to-home reception. The contract illustrates the ongoing geographic expansion of SES' business activities as well as the value of SES' "global access" concept for content providers.
The general entertainment Pay-TV offer ChannelD as well as the associated free-to-air radio station will target German-speaking audiences outside of Europe. The channel, which aims at global distribution, will be launched first over North America, Latin America and the Caribbean.
ChannelD will use the satellites GE-4 and GE-6 operated by GE Americom. Earlier this year, SES announced the 100% acquisition of GE Americom through newly created SES Global in a $5bn transaction (see: About SES). GE-4 (at the orbital position of 101° West) offers perfect coverage of Latin America, whereas GE-6 (orbital position 72° West) is optimized for North American coverage.
Jürgen R. Grobbin, Managing Director of ChannelD Television und Radio GmbH, underlines: "The contract with SES allows us to target all German speaking households in North-, Central- and South-America as of the launch of our service on September 1st, 2001. Roughly 7 million German-speaking people live in this area. The high power of the satellites will allow reception of our programs on small satellite dishes, readily available in retail outlets throughout the region."
SES' contract with ChannelD is a full service offer including uplinking to ASTRA from Germany using a mobile SES-uplink station, the downlink of the signal at SES' satellite control station in Luxembourg, a transatlantic link using Americom's TDRS 6 satellite at 47° West, as well as the uplinking to GE-4 and GE-6 from the United States.
Yves Elsen, Commercial and Marketing Director of SES, explains the company's "global access" concept: "Through strategic investments and partnerships SES is in the process of creating a fully integrated satellite-based broadband network. This allows our customers to deliver content cost-effectively and efficiently to any region of the world, independently of where the content is generated. SES welcomes ChannelD as its first customer to opt for the "global access" concept and will strive, within the nascent world-wide fleet of SES Global, to provide satellite capacity for foreign language programming targeting all parts of the world."
For further information please contact:
Yves Feltes
Press Relations Manager
SES/ASTRA
Tel. (352) 710 725 311
Yves_Feltes@ses-astra.comJürgen R. Grobbin
Geschäftsführer
ChannelD Television
und Radio GmbH
Tel: (49) 1805 - 22.88.51
grobbin@ChannelD.de
www.ChannelD.de
About Channel D
General entertainment TV channels in German language are currently only available in Europe, the Mediterranean basin and parts of the Arabian Peninsula. ChannelD, a privately owned German TV channel, will be the first to overcome those borders.
As of September 1st, 2001, ChannelD will be "on-air" over the Americas with Films, Sport (including reports from the German football premier-league), news, general entertainment, series, soaps, music, and information from Germany and the various regions of the country.
ChannelD will cover the entire United States (except Alaska), the southern parts of Canada, South America and the Caribbean. In addition to the Pay-TV channel, the group will also provide a companion free-to-air radio channel in German language with German country music and German Hits.
The target audience of ChannelD TV and Radio are German expatriates, business people and their families, holiday makers and everyone who is interested in German culture, lifestyle, the language and last but not least, Germany.
The channel can be received with standard Satellite reception equipment. A satellite dish of 90 cm diameter is sufficient in most of the target areas. The user also needs a digital satellite receiver and a smart card. The smart card can be obtained from on of ChannelD's distribution points, which will also take care of the marketing of ChannelD.
To start, ChannelD will be opening up distribution points in the US, Canada, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, and Paraguay.
About SES Group:
The SES Group operates a satellite services network providing seamless broadband communications spanning four continents. Based in Luxembourg, Société Européenne des Satellites S.A. (Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SES; Frankfurt Exchange: SDSL) is the operator of ASTRA, Europe's leading direct-to-home Satellite System, and a strategic shareholder in premier satellite operations like AsiaSat (34.10%), NSAB in Scandinavia (50%), and Star One in Latin America (19.99%).
On March 28th, 2001, SES announced the acquisition of 100% of US operator GE Americom in a $ 5 bn transaction still subject to regulatory approval. To that effect, SES has created SES Global S.A. which will hold all SES Group participations.
SES Global will become the world's premier broadband satellite services provider with a combined fleet of 29 wholly-owned spacecraft: 12 ASTRA and 17 Americom satellites as well as 13 additional satellites through partnerships and investments (3 AsiaSat, 3 SIRIUS, 5 Brasilsat and 2 other through Americom's interests in Latin America and Asia). The SES Global fleet will provide seamless global connectivity.
Americom operates 13 communications satellites over North America as well as 4 transoceanic spacecraft and reaches approximately 115 million viewers through an array of high-quality customers. NSAB operates the SIRIUS satellites providing audiovisual and multimedia services to more than 5 million homes in the Northern and Eastern European countries. AsiaSat is the leading satellite system in the Asian/Pacific region reaching over 80 million households with more than 300 million viewers. Star One operates Brasilsat, the largest satellite fleet over Latin America, whose broadcasts are received by more than 7 million households in Brazil.
SES' core business builds on ASTRA, Europe's leading direct-to-home satellite system. ASTRA transmits in analogue and digital format over 1000 television and radio channels as well as multimedia and Internet services to an audience of more than 87million homes in Europe. Three additional ASTRA satellites are currently under construction and due for launch before mid 2002.
SES Multimedia operates the ASTRA-NET platform, enabling service and content providers to transmit data directly, via satellite, to personal computers in businesses and homes. SES is also the first European satellite operator to commercially exploit the Ka-band frequencies for its ASTRA Broadband Interactive System, a DVB-RCS based return channel system for interactive satellite applications. In addition, SES is extending its direct involvement in multimedia with partnerships, joint ventures and direct investment.
In the year ended December 2000, SES Group had revenues of EURO 835.9mn, EBITDA of EURO 708.7mn and operating income of EURO 516.6mn with an EBITDA margin of 84.8% and 426 employees (including AsiaSat). Its contracted backlog amounts to EURO 4.6bn.
For additional information about SES Group, its partners and GE Americom, visit: www.ses-astra.com, www.nsab.se, www.asiasat.com, www.starone.com.br and www.geamericom.com.