Artist’s rendering of Eutelsat 8 West B. Photo: Thales Alenia Space

Eutelsat signed simultaneous multi-year contracts with the Ethiopian Broadcasting Service (EBS) and the Association of Ethiopian Broadcasters (AEB) for video capacity on its Eutelsat 8 West B satellite. The aggregate of these contracts represents multi-transponder capacity, including incremental resources.

Leveraging Eutelsat 8 West B satellite’s dedicated coverage of Ethiopia, both media groups will enjoy nationwide coverage for their free-to-air Direct-to-Home (DTH) platforms, representing a total of 30 channels. Introduced to the local market back in 2012, Eutelsat’s 7/8 degree West orbital position will now broadcast the vast majority of Ethiopia’s channels thanks to these new agreements.

A longstanding client of Eutelsat on the Hotbird position, the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) is the country’s oldest and largest free-to-air broadcaster. Programming features news, sport, music and other entertainment, broadcast predominantly in Amharic, the official working language of the federal government. The AEB, established in September 2018, is a group of privately owned, licensed broadcasters operating in Ethiopia. Members include EBS, Fana TV, Walta, Kana TV, Arts, Nahoo TV, Afrihealth, OBS, LTV, Ahadu, DWTV, Asham TV, and Balageru.