NEWSLETTERS

New music channel joins Poland’s 'n' platform

ESKA TV, a new music channel has launched on Poland’s ‘n’ DTH platform. The channel is operated by the Time radio group, whose other interests include the radio stations ESKA, ESKA Rock, Hit FM, Vox and Wawa. ESKA is the largest radio network in Poland and claims market leadership among the 16 - 24 age group in cities with over 100,000 inhabitants. In line with the musical profile of the ESKA radio station, ESKA TV broadcasts popular music, including video clips from the biggest stars of the Polish music scene and international artists. Other themes include news and gossip, backstage documentaries on the "making of" music videos, news from the world of computer games and cinema and the latest hits from radio ESKA, ESKA TV, and the web.

Launched in October 2006 'n' belongs to ITI Neovision, which is part of the ITI Group, one of Poland's leading media and entertainment groups. Available exclusively from the HOT BIRD™ neighbourhood at 13 degrees East, ‘n’ broadcasts 60 Standard Definition channels and nine HDTV channels to almost 800,000 subscribers.

For more information: www.n.pl, www.eska.tv.

BBC Prime joins GlobeCast platform on EUROBIRD™ 9A

BBC Worldwide has become the latest major broadcaster to benefit from GlobeCast’s second transponder on Eutelsat’s EUROBIRD™ 9A satellite after calling on the content management and delivery company to provide a distribution and capacity solution for its international channel BBC Prime.

BBC Prime, which was previously broadcast by GlobeCast from Eutelsat’s HOT BIRD™ neighbourhood, has taken advantage of EUROBIRD™ 9A’s prime position at 9° East, which provides comprehensive Direct-to-Home coverage of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

In order to make the transition from HOT BIRD™ as smooth as possible, Eutelsat has provided BBC Worldwide and GlobeCast with more than 600 ClipSat™ devices to distribute to cable and DTH operators across the region, enabling them to access both EUROBIRD™ 9A and HOT BIRD™ channels from the one standard dish.

GlobeCast receives the BBC Prime feed via fibre at its central London Technical Operations Centre. From there the signal is sent via fibre to GlobeCast’s Brookmans Park facility where it is uplinked to EUROBIRD™ 9A.

For more information: www.globecast.com

Russia launches its first HD channel for women

On May 22, the Russian production company First HD launched Women’s World, the country’s first HD television channel for women. The channel is available on Platforma HD, Russia’s pay-TV platform which uses Eutelsat’s EUROBIRD™ 9A satellite to deliver HD content across western parts of Russia to the Urals.

Women’s World covers culture and lifestyle, with approximately 40% of the content produced in house. Nikolay Orlov, First HD’s Director General commented at the launch, “We launched Women’s World with Platforma HD as they are a premium operator with the ideal client base for our target audience. As an HDTV operator, their clients are relatively affluent with a significant female audience. Our new channel meets requirements previously not catered for in the Russian HDTV market."

Launched in 2008, Platforma HD already leases two transponders on EUROBIRD™ 9A for its bouquet of nine HD channels which includes the international channels Eurosport HD and National Geographic HD and leading Russian HD channels, HD Life and Kinopokaz HD. The platform is available Direct-to-Home with 60-90cm antennas and is also distributed to cable operators in cities in western parts of Russia. The operator also expanded its offer earlier this year with a Standard Digital package, Platforma DV, which is also available on EUROBIRD™ 9A.

For more information: www.platformahd.ru

Eutelsat expands content on Europe’s first 3D demonstration channel transmitted by EUROBIRD™ 9A

Eutelsat is adding new content to the demonstration 3D channel launched earlier this year from its 9 degrees East video neighbourhood, occupied by EUROBIRD™ 9A. The channel, a first in Europe, is serving as a testbed to analyse the performance of screens, encoders and decoders, and to gain experience on the use of 3D content in the home and in public locations. It is uplinked from the Turin teleport of the Group’s Skylogic subsidiary.

The 3D content is shot with stereoscopic HD cameras, with a definition of 1920 pixels per line and 1080 lines each. The 8 Mbit/s signal is then transmitted in a single 1920x1080i HD stream in side by side mode: 960 pixels per line for each eye. It can be received by off-the-shelf HD DVB-S2 / MPEG-4 satellite receivers, connected via a HDMI connector to a flat-screen with an embedded 3D decoder. The content can be experienced with passive glasses which recompose the image into 3D.

New content added this month includes a basketball match between two Italian major league basketball teams. The match was filmed by DBW Communication, with transmission and reception managed by OPENSKY and transmitted by Eutelsat using capacity on its ATLANTIC BIRD™ 3 satellite.

Also in June, Eutelsat participated at Dimension 3, which took place in Paris.
The International Forum on 3D Images assembled industry professionals on the latest developments and solutions for filming, post-producing, screening and broadcasting in 3D.

Eurovision kicks off new lease with the FIFA Confederations Cup 2009 in South Africa

Eurovision, the premier distributor of sports and news content for the world’s top broadcast and media platforms has leased capacity on Eutelsat’s W2A satellite. The new Ku-band and C-band capacity will be incorporated in its global network, to provide variable bandwidth capabilities including HD and the highest quality multichannel audio.

W2A provides Eurovision’s first permanent lease of C-band capacity to facilitate exchanges between Europe and Africa, enabling Eurovision to develop a platform for contribution links between the two continents. The capacity was initiated with the FIFA Confederations Cup, which is taking place from 14 to 28 June in South Africa, and which will be followed in 2010 by the World Cup, also hosted by South Africa.

The Ku-band capacity, with pan-European coverage, enables Eurovision to consolidate the European part of its network at two Eutelsat locations: at 10 degrees East with W2A, and at the historical 7 degrees East position occupied by Eutelsat’s W3A satellite.

“Eurovision has over 50 years of experience in putting live sports and news programming exactly where broadcasters and federations want it, in a seamless, reliable and cost-effective way. We are delighted to extend our agreement with Eutelsat for this vital leg in our worldwide video network.” said Stefan Kuerten, Director of Eurovision Operations.

For more information: www.eurovision.net

Eutelsat satellites broadcast 400 hours of European Election transmissions

Eutelsat’s satellites broadcast the equivalent of 400 hours of 9 MHz transmissions for the European elections which took place between 4 and 7 June. The elections were the biggest trans-national election in history, with 736 MEPs and 18 observers being elected to represent some 500 million Europeans in 27 countries.

Satellite capacity was leased by clients throughout Europe, including in France, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden, Spain, Turkey and the UK, by service providers including Elpitel S.R.L., the European News Exchange, Globecast, Ihlas Haber Ajansi, Media Broadcast GMBH, ProSiebenSat.1 Produktion GMBH, PBLSat, Prvni Zpravodajska, Siemens Business Services Media Ltd, Telenor UK Ltd, and TVI. The key satellites providing the coverage for the event were ATLANTIC BIRD™ 1, ATLANTIC BIRD™ 3, EUROBIRD™ 3, SESAT 1, W2, W2A and W3A.

SkyVision chooses Eutelsat’s new W2A satellite for pan-African and Middle East connectivity

SkyVision, a leading global provider of Internet services over satellite and terrestrial fibre optic systems has signed a multi-year contract for a C-band transponder on Eutelsat’s newly-launched W2A satellite. SkyVision provides end-to-end solutions of standard or customised IP services for global businesses, Non Governmental Organisations and Internet Service Providers, from its main gateways in Europe, the United States and the Middle East. The new capacity supplements its extensive pan-African space segment and private networks inventory.

Eutelsat’s W2A satellite was launched on April 3 and located at 10 degrees East. The Ku-band and C-band capacity, which Eutelsat has introduced for the first time at its longstanding 10 degrees East neighbourhood, went into full commercial service on May 19. In addition to W2A’s payload of up to 46 Ku-band transponders, the satellite’s 10 C-band transponders provide users with a vast coverage stretching from South America, across Africa and Europe and through to the Indian sub-continent.

For more information: www.sky-vision.net

Eutelsat’s Tooway™ satellite broadband service raises speeds to 3.6 Mbps

From July 1, Eutelsat is raising the speeds of its Tooway™ consumer broadband service. Download speeds are increasing from 2 Mbps to 3.6 Mbps and maximum uplink speeds to 384 kbps for all customers, at no added cost. Overnight usage volumes will be discounted by 50% between midnight and 6am GMT to reward use of the satellite network at traditionally quiet times.

Tooway™ is the first satellite two-way broadband service offering speeds and costs similar to ADSL. Today, Tooway™ serves customers in more than 20 European countries including the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Ireland, with additional countries across Europe rolling-out over the coming months. Tooway™ is delivered via a network of certified distributors, with recent distributors to join the network including Spain’s El Corte Inglés. Informática El Corte Inglés will commercialise Tooway™ to consumers across the country who are located beyond the range of terrestrial broadband coverage through its own distribution network which offers customers installation and maintenance services.

In 2010, Eutelsat will expand the service with additional broadband access up to 10Mbps. These revolutionary broadband speeds will come from the launch of KA-SAT, Eutelsat’s new satellite specifically designed for broadband delivery in Europe. With the combined capacity of 40 traditional satellites, KA-SAT will enable Eutelsat to serve up to two million European homes at a similar speed, price and quality to terrestrial ADSL2 services.

For more information and contact details for the distributors: www.tooway.com

The first 100 days of the Obama Presidency

On May 14, Eutelsat Communications’ CEO, Giuliano Berretta, participated at a symposium organised by the French Senate to assess the first 100 days of Barack Obama’s presidency. The symposium, which took place at Paris’ Palais du Luxembourg, was inaugurated by Jean-Pierre Raffarin, former French Prime Minister and president of the Senate’s France-United States friendship group, and concluded by Christine Lagarde, Minister for the Economy, Industry and Employment.

Giuliano Berretta took part in a roundtable session discussing economic issues, including the availability of broadband, international communications requirements, and the satellite industry. The group was presided over by Louis Giscard d'Estaing, president of the National Assembly’s France-United States friendship group. Other speakers included Patrick Artus, Director of Economic Research at Natixis, Seth Winnick, Minister Counselor for Economic Affairs at the Embassy of the United States, and Jean-Claude Gruffat, Citi Country Corporate Officer France and chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in France.