[8-30-07 – Satellite News Today] SES Sirius appointed Hakan Sjodin managing director, the company announced Aug. 30.

Sjodin, who replaces Per Norman, has been with SES Sirius since 2001 and will assume his role Sept. 10. He is taking the reins at SES Sirius two months before the scheduled launch of the Sirius 4 satellite, which the company says is Sweden’s biggest investment in space ever.

“The satellite market is growing, partly because many new television channels are being launched and partly because the HDTV channels being introduced require significantly larger bandwidth than traditional TV channels,” Sjodin said in a statement. “Sirius 4 will be a welcome response to the sharply increasing demand for transmission capacity. At the same time, the new satellite will extend the geographical coverage for SES Sirius to the east, which means new business opportunities in new markets.”