SES signs new agreement with Arqiva

SES has signed a new long-term multiple transponder contract with Arqiva to serve its television and radio customers in the UK and Ireland.

From its fleet positioned at 28.2 degrees East, SES has served more than 12 million satellite households in the UK and Ireland at year-end 2012.

“Our investment in the complete renewal of our fleet at the 28.2 degrees neighbourhood and our access to additional frequencies at this neighbourhood, give Arqiva an ideal base to serve its wide range of broadcasting clients and to address large audiences in the UK and Ireland,” said Ferdinand Kayser, chief commercial officer of SES. “This new contract underlines the attractiveness of our satellite offering for the UK and Irish market and is a strong component of our long-standing partnership with our valued customer Arqiva.”

Separately, SES says it has been contracted to provide a “record-breaking” 12 transponders of occasional use capacity to Media Broadcast and Telenor Satellite Broadcasting to support the media coverage of the upcoming German Federal Elections for German broadcasters.

Over 1,500 channel hours on 62 channels have been reserved on SES satellites to broadcast live and background coverage of the German Federal Elections being held on September 22.

“In anticipation of the German Federal Elections, the SES Occasional Use team has arranged for extra capacity to be available to meet the demands of our customers. All available capacity in prime time has already been reserved a week before the elections, which illustrates the trust that our customers have in the reliability of the SES satellites and the OU team,” said Samantha McCloskey, vice-president of global OU Services and special events at SES.