[SatBroadcasting(tm)] SES ASTRA, an SES company (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG), announced the German entertainment channel RTL2 will launch in HD quality on HD+ starting in early December.

HD+ is SES ASTRA’s technical platform for the transmission and reception of TV programs in HD quality via satellite for the German market. RTL2 HD is the seventh private free-TV-channel to launch on HD+. Other channels broadcasting via HD+ include RTL HD, Sat. 1 HD, ProSieben HD, VOX HD and kabel eins HD and, most recently, Sport1 HD, which starts on November 1, 2010. Since its market launch on November 1, 2009, HD+ has been growing at an exceptional rate. Over 1.2 million smart cards have been delivered to manufacturers and more than 300,000 HD+ set-top boxes (STBs) have been sold. To date, more than 30 different kinds of STB are available and additional models will enter the market soon.