Intelsat is seeing a lot of demand in Central and Eastern Europe for HD channels at the one degree West position.
Speaking to Broadband TV News at IBC, Rhys Morgan, regional VP, Europe, Intelsat, said this was particularly evident in Slovakia and Romania. At the same time, Bulgaria’s Vivacom has secured new capacity on Intelsat 38 at 45 degrees East, which is due to launch on September 25.
When asked about Ultra HD, Morgan said that although CEE is somewhat behind in its introduction, many markets in the region are early adopters of new technologies. He identified Slovak Telekom as one operator likely to move channels to the Ultra HD format.
Morgan also spoke about Intelsat’s Epic satellites, which have more focused spot beams able to cover entire countries such as Armenia and Bulgaria. Looking to the future, he said that Intelsat will aim to develop a more hybrid approach and delivering more hybrid services into CEE.
Morgan also underlined the fact that Intelsat already takes European services such as the BBC globally, either on its own or with partners.
