Eutelsat headquarters in Paris, France. Photo: Eutelsat.

Eutelsat Communications has acquired Noorsat, a satellite service provider in the Middle East, from Bahrain’s Orbit Holding Group for $75 million, debt free and cash free. Established in 2004, Noorsat is a distributor of Eutelsat capacity in the Middle East, serving blue-chip customers and providing services for more than 300 TV channels almost exclusively from Eutelsat’s Middle East and North Africa neighborhoods at 7/8 degrees west and 25.5 degrees east.

According to Eutelsat, the acquisition fits into its broader strategy of streamlining distribution within selected core video neighborhoods where it can create value. It will allow Eutelsat to strengthen the long-term commercial development of its video positions in the Arabic region and increase its direct access to end-customers, accelerating High Definition (HD) TV take-up and the upselling of incremental video services.