SES ASTRA, an SES company (Paris:SESG) (LuxX:SESG), today
announced that it has further increased the number of digital
satellite TV homes reached by the ASTRA satellite system in Germany by
1.72 million to 9.75 million households (+ 21.5 percent). SES ASTRA
thus remains the driving force and leading infrastructure in digital
television in Germany. In total, Germany had 36.98 million analogue
and digital TV homes last year. The number of satellite households
remains stable at 16.7 million. As a result, 45 percent of all TV
households are directly served via satellite. Cable serves 17.9
million TV homes (48.4 percent). Terrestrial television is watched in
2.3 million homes (6.3 percent). While the number of cable households
decreased by 600,000 in 2007, digital terrestrial TV increased its
reach by 400,000 households.
These are the results of the latest Satellite Monitor, conducted
annually by the market research institute TNS Infratest on behalf of
SES ASTRA. For the monitoring, 6,000 telephone and face-to-face
interviews were conducted all over Germany at the end of last year.
The methodology and the results are controlled by independent
institutes.
With an increase by 23.1 percent, the number of digital TV
households in Germany has risen significantly last year and currently
amounts to 15.61 million. The satellite therefore supplies two thirds
of all digital households. For 63.3 percent or 9.88 million TV
households, the digital satellite TV is the preferred reception mode,
an increase by 20.9 percent compared to last year. 3.6 million TV
homes (23.1 percent) are being served by cable. 2.06 million homes
(13.2 percent) receive their digital programmes by antenna. 50,000
households (0.03 percent) are currently being served via DSL, compared
to 40,000 in 2006. The share of analogue TV households continues to
decrease and currently amounts to 21.4 million.
"As the switch to digital reception modes continues to advance in
many regions in Germany, more and more viewers decide in favour of
satellite TV," said Wolfgang Elsasser, Managing Director of SES ASTRA
in Germany. "With an increase by more than 20 percent compared to last
year, the satellite clearly proves to be the driving force of
digitalization. We have consequently extended our offer in the past
year and now provide 374 digital TV channels to German speaking
regions. With this variety of high-quality programmes, we are
absolutely confident that we will be able to convince more and more
viewers of our digital offer in the future."
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 degrees East, 28.2 degrees East, 23.5 degrees East
and 5 degrees East.
SES ASTRA is an SES company (Paris:SESG) (LuxX: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 also holds strategic
participations in SES SIRIUS in Europe, 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
