SES ASTRA Enters into Cooperation with Milano Teleport to Offer Capacity to Italian Broadcasters

Milano Teleport to use capacity on 23.5 degrees East

LUXEMBOURG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SES ASTRA, an SES company (Paris:SESG) (LuxX:SESG), announced today that it has entered into a partnership with Italian broadcast and network service provider Milano Teleport to offer capacity from its 23.5 degrees East orbital position to Italian broadcasters. 23.5 degrees East is SES ASTRA’s increasingly attractive orbital position offering high quality coverage of the Italian market.

“We are very pleased to join a competent and strong partner like Milano Teleport to offer end-to-end solutions to broadcasters in Italy. Together with our partners, we are looking forward to further grow our business and service offering in Italy.”

Milano Teleport intends to use the capacity to provide transmission services to local and regional channels, as well as to ethnic channels that want to reach out to their particular target group and extend their coverage beyond terrestrial transmission following the completion of the terrestrial analogue switch-off in 2012.

The partnership with Milano Teleport adds another element to SES ASTRA’s strategy to position itself as an alternative satellite operator in Italy. It follows cooperation agreements with public broadcaster RAI, housing industry association Anaci and installer training school Eurosatellite.

Alexander Oudendijk, Chief Commercial Officer of SES ASTRA, said: “We are very pleased to join a competent and strong partner like Milano Teleport to offer end-to-end solutions to broadcasters in Italy. Together with our partners, we are looking forward to further grow our business and service offering in Italy.”

Pietro Guerrieri, Managing Director of Milano teleport, said: ”Taking part in the development of a new satellite platform for DTH broadcasting in Italy is a very exciting commitment for our company. We are delighted to be taking up this challenge in partnership with SES ASTRA which is acknowledged as a key player in the satellite business in Europe.”

SES ASTRA today reaches 1.9 million households in Italy via its 19.2 degrees East orbital position and offers more than 330 international free-to-air channels, including 270 only on ASTRA. With its new orbital position at 23.5 degrees East, SES ASTRA intends to bring additional capacity and programme choice to the Italian market. Most recently, SES ASTRA launched Italy’s first HD demo channel featuring RAI content on 23.5 degrees East.

About SES ASTRA www.ses-astra.com

SES ASTRA is the leading Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite system in Europe. The satellite fleet currently comprises 13 ASTRA and two SIRIUS satellites. The combined satellite system delivers services to more than 122 million DTH and cable households and transmits more than 2,500 analogue and digital television and radio channels. SES ASTRA also provides satellite-based multimedia, internet and telecommunication services to enterprises, governments and their agencies. With more than 90 High Definition (HD) channels on its main orbital positions, ASTRA and SIRIUS represent the most important HDTV platform for Europe's leading broadcasters. The prime orbital positions for ASTRA and SIRIUS are 19.2° East, 28.2° East, 23.5° East, 5° East and 31.5° East.

SES ASTRA is an SES company (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG). SES wholly owns SES ASTRA and SES WORLD SKIES, 90% of SES SIRIUS in Europe, and participations in Ciel in Canada and QuetzSat in Mexico. SES provides outstanding satellite communications solutions via a global fleet of 40 satellites in 26 orbital locations. For further information: www.ses.com.

About Milano Teleport

Milano Teleport S.p.A. operates the first established independent teleport in Italy, founded in 1997, just after the market deregulation for the satellite uplink industry. Its activities span from DTH broadcasting to worldwide fixed and maritime data services. Milano Teleport business units are located in Northern Italy: Venice hosts administrative offices and operations; the headquarters and teleport are close to Milan.