[Satellite Today 09-12-08] Arqiva has expanded the services it provides to GTV to accommodate what it calls ‘its aggressive growth in the African direct-to-home pay TV market,’ the company said Sept. 12.
    In the announcement, Arqiva cited a recent report by Balancing Act, a research company specializing in African media, which claims that over the last nine months, five out of every seven new subscribers to satellite television in Africa chose GTV, as a motivation behind the expansion.
    Arqiva said that coverage will be broadcasted into 12 French-speaking countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon and Cote d’Ivoire.
    In June 2008, Arqiva supported the launch of eleven French language channels onto the GTV platform. Arqiva’s Chalfont Grove facility downlinks the channels from a number of satellites and platforms and integrates into the GTV multiplex head-end for onward transmission onto the W3A and W4 satellites.