SES has announced that the Ethiosat platform is now broadcasting all channels of the Association of Ethiopian Broadcasters (AEB) and the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) exclusively.
In total it is now offering over 90 channels, 21 of which are in HD, from the 57 degrees East orbital slot. They include such popular services as EBS, ETV News and Fana TV.
SES notes that in December 2020 the Ethiopian government announced that all satellite TV channels should be moved to SES’s NSS-12 satellite so that Ethiosat can meet the local TV audiences’ desire for local and international news and entertainment channels while fuelling growth in the Ethiopian media sector.
Since then, the AEB and the EBC have had their members migrate their TV channels and broadcast them from one orbital position rather than have their viewers navigate through a multitude of foreign channels.
To support this migration, SES, through its established Elevate Installer Training programme, and supported by local partners Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority (EBA) and Ethiopian Science and Space Institution (ESSTI), has carried out daily training sessions. As a result, there are now 20,000 certified installers from all regions across Ethiopia who are equipped to help Ethiopian viewers repoint their dishes and continue to watch their favourite local channels without any disruption.
Commenting on the development, Amman Fissehazion, chairman of AEB, said: “Repointing dishes for millions of TV households across Ethiopia is not an easy feat, and it’s only possible when we have committed partners such as SES. It has taken us slightly less than two months to get our members’ channels moved to Ethiosat via SES’s satellite, and we are pleased with the progress of repointing the antennas so far”.
Dr Getachew Dinku Godana, Director General of EBA, added: “We can proudly say that Ethiopians now have their own dedicated TV platform hosting exclusively all Ethiopian satellite TV channels.
“In addition to the high-quality content that this platform is offering, the strategic collaboration behind it has contributed to the creation of jobs and a sense of unity among the Ethiopian population”.
Steve Collar, CEO at SES, said: “Our commitment to our local partners in Ethiopia has never been stronger. In an incredibly short time frame, together with our local partners, we have managed to train 20,000 installers and have all AEB and EBC channels now broadcast exclusively from Ethiosat.
“However, our work doesn’t stop here. Together with our local team based in Addis Ababa, we will continue to work with our local partners to repoint dishes across the country, while making sure that Ethiosat continues to host the most attractive TV offering comprising local and international channels”.
