[SatNews] SES Platform Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SES S.A. (NYSE Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG), announced that StarTimes, the fastest-growing digital TV operator in Africa, will distribute TV channels for their DTH subscribers across Sub-Saharan Africa via SES Platform Services’ broadcast facility in Germany.

Under the new multi-year agreement, SES Platform Services will be providing signal turnaround, video processing, and uplinking services for StarTimes’ SD and HD channels. StarTimes has more than 5 million DTT and DTH subscribers across 16 countries in Africa and currently provides English-language TV content to viewers across the region via the SES-5 satellite located at 5 degrees East.

Executive Comments

“We want TV audiences in Africa to perceive StarTimes as a reliable DTH platform operator broadcasting engaging content at competitive rates to its subscribers.  We are confident that SES and SES Platform Services have the space and ground infrastructure and the expertise to help us grow our TV business by delivering a wider range of attractive offerings across the continent,” said StarTimes Group Chairman and President Pang Xinxing.

“The new contract reiterates StarTimes’ utmost confidence in SES’s and SES Platform Services’ capabilities to provide both space and ground segment services to grow their business in Sub-Saharan Africa.” said Wilfried Urner, Chief Executive Officer of SES Platform Services.