Ukraine will see the launch of a new DTH platform in January next year. Formed by the state-owned company Ukrkosmos, which has just signed a key deal with SES Astra, and Poverkhnost, a former platform that ceased operations a few months ago, it will enter a market already served by Viasat Ukraine, MyTV and NTV-Plus Ukraine that continues to be troubled by piracy.
The launch of the new platform was confirmed by Yuri Balychev, the deputy director of Ukrkosmos, quoted AKTR and Kommentarji.
Ukrkosmos has until now used Hellas Sat and says that this cooperation will continue despite the new deal with SES Astra. However, the aim will be to eventually use the services of the new Ukrainian satellite, due to launch in 2012.
Although there are some 2.9 million users of satellite antennas in Ukraine, according to SES Astra Satellite Monitor, the total number of homes paying for to receive commercial DTH services is by some industry sources believed to be no higher than 80,000.
The picture shows one of the many dish facilities of Ukrkosmos, the national space agency of Ukraine
