ORS, the transmission company that serves the Austrian public broadcaster ORF, has added a new transponder to its capacity on Astra at 19.2 degrees East.
The transponder is the fourth contracted by ORS with operator SES. Two new channels will be added as a result of the capacity uplift; ORF Sport Plus, launching on October 26, and commercial broadcaster ATV2, making its debut on December 1.
“We are very pleased to announce the expansion of the partnership with ORS and the Austrian broadcasters. The orbital position 19.2 degrees East is one of our premium positions and this agreement further emphasises its status as a leading orbital slot for continental Europe,” said Ferdinand Kayser, CCO of SES. “Two new Austrian channels within the next three months prove the advantages that go hand in hand with the switch-over from analogue to digital TV.”
Satellite holds 53% of the Austrian market, which has 3.5 million TV homes. Of the DTH households, around 97% have already switched to digital, mainly beacuse the all Austrian public and priovate broadcasters are only available in digital.
Public broadcaster ORF is also launching its ORF III Kultur und Information (culture and information) channel on October 26, but this channel will take the place of the broadcaster’s TW1 channel.
Meanwhile, the new HD DTH platform HD Austria has launched with initially seven HD channels, soon to be expanded to 10. The HD Austria bouquet is owned and operated by the M7 Group, which also has the AustriaSat DTH service.
All channels from these bouquets can be received with ORF smart cards.
