The Russian DTH platform NTV-Plus has signed a multi-year, multi-transponder contract with Eutelsat covering the Express-AT2 satellite to reach homes in the far east of the country.
It has also secured incremental capacity on the Express-AT1 satellite at 56 degrees East to consolidate its coverage of Siberia.
With the launch of new services on April 1, NTV-Plus has now achieved its objective of full coverage of the country. The new wave of expansion follows approvals earleir this year from Russia’s Federal Tender Commission to extend its broadcasting footprint as far as the Pacific Coast.
Commenting on the development, Mikhail Demin, CEO of NTV-Plus, said: “Our mutual goal is to establish highest standards of modern satellite TV. Today NTV Plus covers 100% of the Russian territory with more than 145 million population. For us this expansion is not only business ambition but also is a great social mission which we are honored to implement with our partner Eutelsat”.
Rodolphe Belmer, Eutelsat CEO, added: “We are delighted to pursue more than two decades of collaboration with NTV-Plus and to see the unique value of satellites for delivering nationwide coverage of the Russian Federation in order to offer digital TV to all homes irrespective of their location.”
