55 HD channels now on ASTRA

Betzdorf (Luxembourg), 20 October 2008 – SES ASTRA, an SES company (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG), today announced that the number of High Definition (HD) channels broadcast via the ASTRA Satellite System has increased significantly in the last three months. At the beginning of October 2008, the number of HD channels reached 55 – representing an increase of 13 channels or 30 percent since August. The SES group, including SES ASTRA, SES AMERICOM and SES NEW SKIES, today transmits a total of 137 HD channels.

With 55 HD channels broadcast from its main orbital positions, ASTRA represents the most important HDTV platform in Europe, including HD channels from Europe’s leading pay-TV bouquets such as Sky for the UK; CanalSat for France; Premiere for Germany; Digital+ for Spain; Viasat for Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland; Canal Digitaal for the Netherlands; TV Vlaanderen for Belgium; and SKYLink for the Czech and Slovak Republics. ASTRA also features HD channels from Europe’s biggest public broadcasters such as the BBC for the UK, ARTE for Germany, ORF for Austria and TVP for Poland. 

Alexander Oudendijk, Chief Commercial Officer of SES ASTRA, said: “The rapid growth in the number of HD channels clearly shows that HDTV is taking off in Europe. With the new channels we further improve the impressive HD channel line-up and build a very attractive HD neighbourhood on our main orbital positions. The growing number of leading broadcasters choosing ASTRA proves that we have become the primary platform for premium HD content in Europe.”

About SES ASTRA                                                                                                              www.ses-astra.com

SES ASTRA is the leading Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite system in Europe. The satellite fleet currently comprises 14 ASTRA and two SIRIUS satellites. The combined satellite system delivers services to more than 117 million DTH and cable households and transmits a total of 2,433 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 55 High Definition (HD) channels concentrated 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 owns three market-leading satellite operators, SES ASTRA in Europe, SES AMERICOM in North America, and SES NEW SKIES which provides global coverage and connectivity. The company owns 90 percent of SES SIRIUS in Europe, as well as strategic participations in Ciel in Canada and Quetzsat in Mexico. SES provides outstanding satellite communications solutions via a fleet of 39 satellites in 26 orbital positions around the globe. Additional information on SES is available at: www.ses.com

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Internet connectivity from ASTRA 5A at 31.5 degrees East

Betzdorf (Luxembourg), 1 August 2008. – SES ASTRA, an SES company (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG), today announced that, via its Nordic affiliate SES SIRIUS, it has contracted four transponders on its new orbital position at 31.5 degrees East to the Lithuanian satellite services provider SatGate. SatGate is using the capacity to provide broadband and internet connectivity to households and end customers in Eastern and Central Europe, Russia and its neighbouring countries and the Middle East. Part of the capacity will also be used to serve Internet Service Providers who do not have the necessary infrastructure themselves. SatGate has already contracted two transponders on the Sirius 4 satellite. The company was established in 2001 and has more than 50,000 active customers across the different countries where it offers its services.

SES ASTRA started to commercialise the new orbital position 31.5 degrees East in April, with its satellite ASTRA 5A offering 26 transponders in a first step. The first customers who announced a capacity agreement for two transponders on ASTRA 5A in mid July are the independent German cable operators.

Alexander Oudendijk, Chief Commercial Officer of SES ASTRA, said: “We are very satisfied that after the successful deployment of ASTRA 5A at 31.5 degrees East, we have already been able to contract six transponders at this new orbital position. The demand from customers for ASTRA 5A shows how dynamic the market in Central and Eastern Europe currently is. We expect that this new orbital position serving these markets will further develop rapidly. The broadband services from SatGate will certainly represent a sound base to develop an attractive neighbourhood for additional customers on ASTRA 5A, not only for broadband, but also in combination with Direct-to-Home TV services.”

Vitaliy Malashevskiy, Chief Executive Officer of SatGate, said: “We are pleased to take our relationship with SES to a new stage, based on its competencies and the high quality of service we trust. The agreement for the use of four transponders on ASTRA 5A will enable us to successfully expand our offers into the promising markets in Eastern and Central Europe and the Middle East. We are looking forward to further develop our business and build on our strong relationship with SES.”

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About SES ASTRA                                                                                                              www.ses-astra.com

SES ASTRA is the leading Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite system in Europe. The satellite fleet currently comprises 14 ASTRA and two SIRIUS satellites. The combined satellite system delivers services to more than 117 million DTH and cable households and transmits a total of 2,295 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 42 High Definition (HD) channels available via its satellites today, ASTRA and SIRIUS represent the most important HDTV broadcasting platform in Europe. 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 owns three market-leading satellite operators, SES ASTRA in Europe, SES AMERICOM in North America, and SES NEW SKIES which provides global coverage and connectivity. The company owns 90 percent of SES SIRIUS in Europe, as well as strategic participations in Ciel in Canada and Quetzsat in Mexico. SES provides outstanding satellite communications solutions via a fleet of 38 satellites in 25 orbital positions around the globe. Additional information on SES is available at: www.ses.com

SM2 Sports Media Solutions contracts SES NEW SKIES satellite to bring North American sports events in HD to Europe

 The Hague, Netherlands, July 23^rd, 2008 – SES NEW SKIES, an SES company (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG), announces that SM2 Sports Media Solutions has contracted 18 MHz of bandwidth on the NSS-7 satellite at the orbital location of 338 degrees East. Under the contract, SM2 will use NSS-7 to deliver North American sports events in High Definition (HD) to Europe for a period of five years.

SM2’s main business is the negotiation of sports rights and the satellite delivery of sports events for broadcasters worldwide. Incepted in 2004 in Greenwich, Connecticut, SM2 has already delivered over 3000 hours of programming to clients in Europe and Asia including BSkyB, NTV Plus, Bravo, Premiere, RAI, Sky Italia, Sogecable, Sports TV Portugal, CCTV, YES and PCCWC. Additional clients include: NFL International, TNA Wrestling, ESPN International, USGA, Fox Sports International, Augusta and U.S. Figure Skating. SM2 is also a technological innovator: In February 2007, SM2, through TV2GO in Canada, assisted the NFL in delivering its first ever HD World Feed broadcast of the Super Bowl to its European broadcast partners.

   Susanna Mandel-Mantello, President of SM2 Sports Media Solutions, said: "Since our inception, we have always worked with leaders in the industry to satisfy our clients increase in appetite for HD transmission. Our move to partner with SES NEW SKIES was just our next natural step to ensure that we had the best possible solution, both in coverage and value, for all of our clients. We are very excited about our new partnership and what it will offer our current clients as well as future ones."

  Andrew Ruszkowski, Vice President North American Sales at SES NEW SKIES, said: “As the world’s leading video contribution satellite, NSS-7 at 338 degrees East is a logical choice for SM2. The high-performance spacecraft is ideally located to bring programming from the U.S to media hubs in Europe, the Middle East, Africa or Latin America. We look forward to SM2 ‘doing sports’ on NSS-7 and bringing popular U.S. sports events in HD quality to European audiences.”

 About NSS-7

NSS-7 is a state-of-the-art, hybrid Ku- and C-band satellite located at 338 degrees East over the Atlantic Ocean, providing coverage of Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas. The satellite is located at one of the hottest orbital locations for trans-Atlantic connectivity as well asinternet connectivity from North America into Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The powerful, state-of-the-art spacecraft features 49 C-band transponders and 48 ku-band transponders.

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First contract for two transponders on 31.5 degrees East /Optimised cable feed to boost digitalisation

Betzdorf (Luxembourg), 16 July 2008. – SES ASTRA, an SES company (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG), today announced that it has signed a long-term agreement with a company representing the independent German cable operators to transmit digital Free-to-Air TV to their networks. KabelDienstLeistungsgesellschaft (KDL), which was set up specifically to provide services to the independent cable operators, has contracted two transponders on SES ASTRA’s new orbital position at 31.5 degrees East. KDL is the first customer using transponder capacity at this position. In addition to the contracted capacity, ASTRA Platform Services (APS) will provide technical services to KDL via its play-out centre in Unterföhring, near Munich.

The independent cable operators provide TV-signals from their own head ends to several million German households. The cooperation with SES ASTRA enables KDL to offer them an optimized access to digital TV channels called TOPP (Transponder optimized program packages). The service allows a simple and efficient feed of 22 digital free-to-air TV channels into the networks. TOPP also includes the offer by KDL to distribute digital TV receivers to the connected cable households. TOPP is scheduled for launch on 8^th of October at the FRK cable congress in Leipzig, Germany.

Alexander Oudendijk, Chief Commercial Officer of SES ASTRA, said: “SES ASTRA has established itself as the prime supplier of signals to cable head-ends in Germany. With this cooperation, we have found a strong partner to drive the necessary digitalisation of the cable networks. We are also very pleased to have closed the first capacity contract for our new orbital position at 31.5 degrees East. This new position will allow us to significantly enlarge and diversify our offer to customers across Europe.”

Heinz-Peter Labonte, Managing Director of the Federal German Association of Private and Independent Cable Operators (FRK), said: “The FRK initiated and supported TOPP, because it wanted to offer to the private and independent cable operators who have their own head-ends a solution to provide digital free-to-air programs to their customers, independently from the large regional cable operators such as KDG, Unity Media, KBW or TC/PC/Orion. TOPP helps the private and independent cable operators to compete with the bigger operators and secures competition in the German cable market.“

Anett Klose, Managing Director of KDL said: ”SES ASTRA has a proven track record as a signal provider for cable head-ends and as a neutral, technical infrastructure provider. The new partnership and the launch of TOPP allow us to offer an attractive selection of digital channels, defined by us in cooperation with the private and independent cable operators to the cable market. This will significantly push the digitalisation of the cable networks in Germany and will help the private and independent cable companies to compete with bigger operators.”

About SES ASTRA                                                                                                              www.ses-astra.com

SES ASTRA is the leading Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite system in Europe. The satellite fleet currently comprises 14 ASTRA and two SIRIUS satellites. The combined satellite system delivers services to more than 117 million DTH and cable households and transmits a total of 2,295 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 42 High Definition (HD) channels available via its satellites today, ASTRA and SIRIUS represent the most important HDTV broadcasting platform in Europe. 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 owns three market-leading satellite operators, SES ASTRA in Europe, SES AMERICOM in North America, and SES NEW SKIES which provides global coverage and connectivity. The company owns 90 percent of SES SIRIUS in Europe, as well as strategic participations in Ciel in Canada and Quetzsat in Mexico. SES provides outstanding satellite communications solutions via a fleet of 38 satellites in 25 orbital positions around the globe. Additional information on SES is available at: www.ses.com.

Find more information about Kabeldienstleistungs GmbH at www.kabeldienstleistung.de.

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Betzdorf (Luxembourg), 1 April 2008. – SES ASTRA, an SES company (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG), has signed another important framework contract for the marketing of its satellite based two-way broadband service ASTRA2Connect in Germany with Deutsche Telekom. The commercial roll-out to end-users will start in 2008. In co-operation with the Federal State of Rhineland-Palatinate, Deutsche Telekom AG has already started the service as a pilot project in two German communities without terrestrial broadband access.

“The agreement with Deutsche Telekom accelerates the distribution of ASTRA2Connect in Germany, one of Europe’s key markets,” said Alexander Oudendijk, Chief Commercial Officer of SES ASTRA. “We are extremely proud to have signed with a partner as significant as Deutsche Telekom and are confident that ASTRA2Connect will offer a highly attractive solution for households where terrestrial high-speed internet is not available.”

With four distribution partners in Germany alone, the roll-out of ASTRA2Connect continues to be extremely successful. Since its launch in April 2007, SES ASTRA has closed distribution contracts for ASTRA2Connect in seven European countries including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, France, Italy, and Poland.

ASTRA2Connect is a fully satellite-based solution for broadband access that delivers dual- and triple-play services via wholesalers and internet service providers to the residential market (dualplay: broadband internet and telephony; tripleplay: broadband internet, telephony and TV). The innovative infrastructure offers a very reliable, always-on, two-way broadband internet access for flat service fees. The customer premises equipment – a modem and a satellite dish – is low cost and delivered with a tool for easy self-installation. ASTRA2Connect offers a unique possibility for households in regions without terrestrial broadband connection to access broadband services.

About SES ASTRA        www.ses-astra.com

SES ASTRA is the leading Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite system in Europe. The satellite fleet currently comprises 12 ASTRA and three SIRIUS satellites. The combined satellite system delivers services to more than 117 million DTH and cable households and transmits a total of 2,295 analogue and digital television as well as radio channels. SES ASTRA also provides satellite-based multimedia, internet and telecommunication services to enterprises, governments and their agencies. With 30 High Definition (HD) channels available via its satellites today, ASTRA and SIRIUS represent the most important HDTV broadcasting platform in Europe. The prime orbital positions for ASTRA and SIRIUS are 19.2° East, 28.2° East, 23.5° East and 5° East.

SES ASTRA is an SES company (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG). SES owns three market-leading satellite operators, SES ASTRA in Europe, SES AMERICOM in North America, and SES NEW SKIES, which provide global coverage and connectivity. The company owns 90 percent of SES SIRIUS in Europe, as well as strategic participations in Ciel in Canada and Quetzsat in Mexico. SES provides outstanding satellite communications solutions via a fleet of 38 satellites in 25 orbital positions around the globe. Additional information on SES is available at: www.ses.com

For further information please contact: