PR/39/07
BIS PAY-TV PLATFORM TO LAUNCH
FROM EUTELSAT’S TWO LEADING VIDEO NEIGHBOURHOODS SERVING FRANCE
Paris, December 5, 2007
Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL) today announced the upcoming launch by
AB Groupe of a new pay-TV platform called BIS, which will be broadcast from its two key
video neighbourhoods for satellite television in France. The new platform will be available to
satellite homes from Eutelsat’s HOT BIRD™ neighbourhood at 13 degrees East and from its
ATLANTIC BIRD™ 3 satellite at 5 degrees West.
The basic package proposed by BIS and called Panorama, will offer up to 25 channels,
including a majority of France’s longstanding national channels and Digital Terrestrial
Television channels. As a complement to the basic offer, additional options include access to
five film channels. Subscriptions to BIS will start at €4.90 a month and go up to €13.90 a
month.
In order to optimise the availability of BIS to satellite homes across France, AB Groupe will
broadcast its new platform simultaneously from the two most established Eutelsat video
neighbourhoods serving the French market over the last two decades:
•
The HOT BIRD™ neighbourhood at 13 degrees East, which broadcasts to 2.8 million
satellite homes in France (Source: Eutelsat 2007). With nearly 500 free-to-air
channels, the HOT BIRD™ satellites also offer the possibility to receive the largest
range of in-the-clear content broadcast by satellite in Europe.
•
ATLANTIC BIRD™ 3, which from 5 degrees West, is a longstanding video
neighbourhood in France, broadcasting national over-the-air channels in analogue to
two million homes located beyond range of terrestrial reception (Source: Eutelsat
2007). With the availability of BIS from ATLANTIC BIRD™ 3, these homes will have
immediate and cost-efficient access to a wide range of digital channels with no need
to repoint their outdoor antenna. Eutelsat’s ATLANTIC BIRD™ 3 is also the satellite
selected to deliver France’s DTT multiplexes to retransmitters for over-the-air
reception.