SES has strengthened its partnership with K-NET, an ICT and Telecoms platform services company based in Ghana, to create a joint venture. The new partnership will contract SES capacity, SES PS's and K-NET's services, and aim to bring high picture quality content to the homes of millions of viewers by strengthening the direct-to-home (DTH) platform and also providing digital terrestrial television (DTT) services via SES's prime orbital position at 28.2 degrees East.

The joint venture will use SES's high-powered satellite capacity, K-NET's highly-efficient teleport services and SES PS's reliable video platform services. This partnership will offer a unified bouquet of high quality free-to-air (FTA) and free-to-view (FTV) channels, from all over West Africa, as well as some popular international channels, to millions of viewers in the region.

The partnership will ensure that consumers, especially in Ghana where 98% SES Satellite Monitor Survey Results for Ghana year-end 2014 of satellite households are serviced by SES satellites, receive newer and higher quality viewing formats and also have access to connected services when they become available.

Wilfried Urner, CEO of SES Platform Services, said, "We are proud to be K-NET's partner of choice. We are at the forefront of the provision of FTA and FTV channels in the sub region and driving further DTH penetration in various West African countries. The partnership will further accelerate the globalisation of SES's video business, increase our channel growth and establish us as a world-leading next generation video and media service provider."

Richard Hlomador, Chairman of K-Net says, "We have worked with SES since 2001 and are pleased to be able to extend our partnership with SES Platform Services. We have built a robust DTH platform, and delivering content in consistently high-quality is a top priority for us. This makes SES Platform Services the ideal partner of choice."

Sky Cable Signs Deal With SES To Launch New Direct-To-Home Satellite Tv In The Philippines
SES reports a multi-year, multi-transponder agreement with Sky Cable, the largest cable television provider in the Philippines. Sky Cable will be broadcasting direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV channels via SES satellites at 108.2 degrees East - the SES-9 and NSS-11 satellites.

The contracted capacity will enable Sky Cable to effectively roll out a nation-wide DTH satellite TV service across 251 cities and municipalities in the Philippine archipelago, complementing its existing cable offerings. The recently launched SES-9 is scheduled to enter service mid-year to provide incremental and replacement capacity at SES's prime neighbourhood of 108.2 degrees East which reaches 22 million homes.

Sky Cable will be drawing on SES's capabilities and global expertise of serving more than 40 DTH platforms worldwide hosted on SES's comprehensive satellite network, to deliver high-quality content to homes across the Philippines.

This includes broadcasting linear TV content to remote locations and islands that are underserved by terrestrial networks. Sky Cable currently offers cable TV services for 55 High Definition (HD) channels to 800,000 subscribers in 19 cities and municipalities in the Philippines.

"The geography of the Philippines presents a unique set of challenges for fibre or terrestrial connectivity. Our satellites are able to overcome these limitations and provide comprehensive and high-powered coverage over the entire archipelago including under-connected areas in the Philippines. We are glad to support Sky Cable as they use both ground and space infrastructure to expand their TV audience reach," says Deepak Mathur, Senior Vice President Commercial, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East at SES.

"This latest contract on SES-9 shows the continued momentum of serving our prime DTH neighbourhoods on our largest satellite dedicated for Asia-Pacific."

Antonio S Ventosa, COO of SkyCable, said, "We are pleased to tap SES's global expertise and extensive satellite footprint as we venture into providing satellite TV services for our growing subscriber base. We are confident that with our partnership with SES, we will be able to deliver content seamlessly to potential new customers all across the country."