[SatBroadcasting(tm)] SES ASTRA has concluded a multi-transponder, multi-year agreement with the German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF to secure satellite capacity for the transmission of HD programs. The long-term agreement is for a total of five transponders on ASTRA's prime orbital position 19.2 degrees East. The capacity will be brought into use in two steps, starting with three transponders in May 2012, immediately after the termination of ARD/ZDF's analog transmissions, followed by two more transponders in January of 2014. The formal approval of the agreement will follow the still outstanding endorsement by one of the regional broadcasters which is member of the ARD. Further details of the switch and the programming line-up will be communicated by the broadcasters.