[SatNews] SES (NYSE Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG) has announced that one of the leading commercial broadcasters in Japan, Nippon Television Network Corporation (NTV), has selected SES as its satellite operator of choice to provide live transmissions of three key sporting events in Europe.

The capacity contracted on board SES' ASTRA 3B satellite was utilized for the contribution of the World Wrestling Championship 2013 in Budapest, the Japan-Serbia football match and the Japan-Belarus football match over the months of September and October.

“We are impressed with the SES team’s responsiveness to our business needs and their 24/7 availability and flexibility to ensure we will have a flawless live broadcast of the sporting event. The comprehensive coverage of ASTRA 3B satellite and its high-powered beams make it ideal for us to broadcast these important sporting events from across Europe into Japan,” said Aki Tsuchida, Deputy Senior Advisor, International Satellite Operations at NTV.

“This first partnership with NTV on an ASTRA satellite speaks of our commitment to offer ubiquitous global coverage to customers around the world and to ensure our customers can broadcast live sporting events seamlessly,” said Samantha McCloskey, Vice President of Global Occasional Use Services and Special Events at SES. “We are pleased that NTV is satisfied with the high level of professionalism shown by the SES Occasional Use team and the excellent coverage of ASTRA 3B over Europe, and hope to continue to provide them with future occasional use capacity for their business needs.”