Capacity on four satellites operated by Eutelsat Communications will be mobilised by French and international media to assure live coverage of the French presidential elections.
The elections will take place in two rounds, on Sunday, April 22 and Sunday, May 6.
Over 400 hours of capacity has so far been booked on Eutelsat 12 West A, Eutelsat 8 West A, Eutelsat 7A and Eutelsat 5 West A in order to transmit live coverage from major sites across France including voting booths, the HQs of the country’s political parties and the Elysée Palace.
Resources leased on Eutelsat satellites will meet significant broadcaster requirements by France Télévision Group, and Globe Cast France and Arqiva France operators which secure capacity for their own TV channel customers.
For Jean-François Leprince-Ringuet, Eutelsat’s commercial director: “The French presidential elections set the stage for a year of strong activity for our on-demand allocation service with elections in several major countries and iconic sports events. Our on-demand service is mainly used for covering SNG news and large events broadcast live on TV. Furthermore, it adds flexibility to our customers’ pool of permanent resources through occasional contracts designed to address an uptick in activity.”
Eutelsat’s Booking Centre coordinates the allocation of occasional satellite capacity from minimum periods of 10 minutes for SNGs up to several days for the coverage of sporting events such as the Olympic Games or the FIFA World Cup.
In addition to these Ku-band services and following the roll-out of the Ka-Sat satellite, Eutelsat has launched a new SNG solution dubbed NewsSpotter enabling the use of Ka-band terminals that can be carried in a back-pack for Fly-away use or fitted onto a small car.
