Albania's DigitAlb Pay-TV Platform Extends to 2020 its Satellite Capacity at Eutelsat's 16 Degrees East Neighbourhood

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Jan 06, 2011, 04:37 ET

PARIS, January 6, 2011 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- DigitAlb, Albania's leading pay-TV platform today announced it has secured its satellite resources for digital broadcasting with Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL) to June 2020. The company has extended for an extra three years its contract with Eutelsat for five transponders on satellites operating at its 16degrees East video neighbourhood.

Launched in December 2004, the DigitAlb pay-TV platform broadcasts a variety of Albanian and international channels, and closely cooperates with the sports package, SuperSport Albania for coverage of premium football and basketball games as well as Grand Prix races. High-Definition is a strong element, with the Premium HD package comprising eight HD channels, in addition to 54 premium channels and five SuperSport channels. The platform has more than 300,000 Direct-to-Home subscribers both in Albania and across Europe, and reaches a further 100,000 homes via Albania's Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) network, which retransmits channels delivered to towers by DigitAlb's Eutelsat capacity.

Alban Jaho, CEO of DigitAlb, said: "This new agreement at Eutelsat's 16 degrees East position secures the qualitative DTH broadcasting of DigitAlb for a long time, which is a very important step for the future. We have a brilliant opportunity to launch new HD channels, and a general improvement of our service to subscribers. Very soon, DigitAlb will be broadcasting more MPEG4 channels than in MPEG2, increasing the efficiency of bandwidth utilisation. We are confident that the successful cooperation between our companies will contribute to a continued bright future for digital broadcasting in the region."

Andrew Wallace, Eutelsat's Chief Commercial Officer, responded: "DigitAlb's long-term commitment to our 16 degrees East neighbourhood further anchors this position as the reference point for digital broadcasting in the Balkans. We are delighted to accompany the expansion of our pay-TV clients and to meet their evolving capacity needs, including their rapid transition into an HD environment."

For more information from DigitAlb

http://www.digitalb.al

About Eutelsat Communications

Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL, ISIN code: FR0010221234) is the holding company of Eutelsat S.A.. With capacity commercialised on 27 satellites that provide coverage over the entire European continent, as well as the Middle East, Africa, India and significant parts of Asia and the Americas, Eutelsat is one of the world's three leading satellite operators in terms of revenues. At 30 September 2010, Eutelsat's satellites were broadcasting more than 3,700 television channels. More than 1,100 channels broadcast via its HOT BIRD(TM) video neighbourhood at 13 degrees East which serves over 120 million cable and satellite homes in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The Group's satellites also serve a wide range of fixed and mobile telecommunications services, TV contribution markets, corporate networks, and broadband markets for Internet Service Providers and for transport, maritime and in-flight markets. Eutelsat's broadband subsidiary, Skylogic, markets and operates access to high speed internet services through teleports in France and Italy that serve enterprises, local communities, government agencies and aid organisations in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. Headquartered in Paris, Eutelsat and its subsidiaries employ nearly 661 commercial, technical and operational employees from 28 countries.