Four local Swedish broadcasters have started satellite transmissions from Telenor’s Thor 2 satellite at five degrees East. It follows the lease of the Norwegian-owned satellite by SES-Sirius. The satellite became available after the successful launch of Thor 5 in February.
Both SES and Telenor have confirmed the long-term lease to Broadband TV News. It is understood that SES won out a fiercely contested auction process. Thor 2 is expected to remain active until at least 2010 before it has to be placed into inclined orbit. It will continue to be operated by the Telenor Satellite Broadcasting technical team in Forenbu.
The Kanal Lokal stations in the regions of Göteborg, Stockholm, Östergotland and Skåne are now available free-to-air from five degrees East. Capacity at the slot has been at a premium as major client Viasat expands its service into the Balkans.
Kanal Lokal is active in four regions, but has obtained further licenses in Småland, Dalarna/Värmland and Norrland. The stations are subsidiaries of Lokal-TV Nätverket i Sverige AB and transmit free-to-air on DTT, are distributed by most cablenets and are now also available on satellite.
