Still more details have emerged about the future direction the Russian DTH platform operator Orion Express will take following its recent agreement with Intelsat.
In a statement, Telekarta, one of the company’s three operations – aside from Orion Express itself, the company distributes the services Continent TV and Telekarta – says that the information came to light at a joint press conference organised last week by Orion Express and Intelsat.
In it, Orion Express’ director general Alina Kurakin said that the deal with Intelsat was worth over $100 million (€73.2 million) and that the company is planning to expand to neighbouring (CIS) countries once it has cleared rights for the channels it distributes.
Commenting on Orion Express’s plans to add more HD channels to its offer, Jana Belska, the company’s programme director, said that one of the main problems is the still undeveloped nature of the HD market in Russia.
Although there are already six million HD-enabled TV sets, only around 80,000 subscribers watch channels in the format due to the high cost of packages and viewers’ failure to appreciate the difference between SD and HD.
Commenting on 3D, she added that the company does not have plans to launch a service for at least the next three years. The deal between Orion Express and Intelsat will see the relocation of Horizons 2 to 85 degrees East, while Intelsat 15 will remain in service.
