TMCnet News
SES Astra and GlobeCast Distribute Orange TV over SatelliteJan 09, 2008 (Close-Up Media via COMTEX) -- SES Astra, a SES company, and GlobeCast, a subsidiary of France Telecom Group, announced the signature of a capacity contract with the French telecommunications operator Orange to distribute its Orange TV offer via satellite, particularly targeting French homes with no TV coverage over ADSL. Orange TV is part of a triple play offer (TV, telephone, internet) and will be broadcast by the ASTRA satellite system from the prime orbital position 19.2 degrees East, which already serves more than five million French direct-to-home households. "Our satellites help Orange to greatly enhance the technical reach of its Orange TV offer," said Nick Stubbs, Managing Director of Astra France. "Our 19.2 degrees East position is the leading orbital slot for direct-to-home satellite reception in France, and allows Orange to reach customers in regions with insufficient ADSL coverage. Our agreement with Orange demonstrates the role of satellite as a perfect complement to terrestrial distribution technologies in building triple play offers with truly universal reach. It also further strengthens the position of ASTRA in the French market." GlobeCast said it will be handling transmission of Orange TV, including digitalisation, MPEG-4 encoding, multiplexing, encryption and uplink services. GlobeCast is a subsidiary of France Telecom and one of SES's major worldwide partners. ((Comments on this story may be sent to [email protected])) |