Swiss-based live music channel i-concerts has further expanded its international reach by finalizing partnership deals with Europe’s leading satellite operator Eutelsat Communications and YouTube. The i-concerts carriage agreements with both companies are effective mid-October 2009.

In response to growing demand for its 24/7 High-Definition live music channel, i-concerts selected Eutelsat’s EUROBIRD 9A video satellite covering Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. This satellite uplink will make i-concerts HD feed available to a broad range of operators and enable them to offer the channel as part of their HDTV packages. Launched in 2006, i-concerts HD channel has until now broadcast exclusively via digital cable and IPTV networks in France, Switzerland and Belgium. DU Telecom in the Middle East will become the first international operator to feature i-concerts HD channel for its Bouquet in October, with several European operators to follow in the fall 2009.

i-concerts features a library of more than 1,000 premium artist concerts and live TV shows. In order to increase awareness of its pay TV and on-demand services, and to gather the online fan community around a shared platform, i-concerts will also launch a channel on YouTube with hundreds of free HD quality concert excerpts, as well as backstage and festival footage. The i-concerts YouTube channel will use YouTube’s Content ID technology to ensure copyright protection of its contents.