Astra 5B wide beam ku-band footprint over Europe. Photo: SES.

Globecast has extended its partnership with SES for the premium TV distribution services it provides to Orange Romania using SES’ satellite capacity. Under the multi-year extension, SES announced Globecast will lease several transponders on Astra 5B at 31.5 degrees east to serve Orange Romania, which uses the capacity to broadcast 112 channels, of which 52 are in High Definition (HD), using the DVB-S2 and MPEG-4 technical standards. Globecast manages the contribution, encryption and encoding for the entire TV package, as well as signal transport to the uplink facilities for Astra 5B.

Orange Romania launched its premium TV offer June 2013 with the support of SES, leveraging the coverage of the Astra 5B satellite to deliver HD channels. According to Orange Romania, the country is in a highly competitive TV market, with 98 percent pay-TV coverage and five operating Direct-to-Home (DTH) platforms.

“In such a competitive market, quality of service is an essential factor in determining success, and we are pleased to extend this specific part of the relationship,” said Biliana Pumpalovic, general director of Globecast in Moscow.

“This extension agreement highlights the role of satellite as vital infrastructure for telecommunications operators to deliver television packages to their subscribers,” said Martin Ornass-Kubacki, vice president and Chief Regional Officer (CRO) at SES Video.