SES SIRIUS EYES INVOLVEMENT IN ROMANIAN DIGITAL SWITCHOVER
21 Jan, 2010
Press release
BUCHAREST, 21st January 2010 - SES SIRIUS, an SES ASTRA company (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG), today announced its intention to participate into the Romanian digitalization process by offering an alternative to terrestrial distribution platforms.
"We are ready to sustain the digital switchover in Romania. The future customers of the digital television must have the option to choose the digital solution that suite them best, from all points of view: financial, technological, or personal needs," said Håkan Sjödin, Managing Director of SES SIRIUS.
"By offering complete geographical coverage and the highest transmission quality, the satellite becomes the ideal solution for direct reception or for playing a complementary role for other carriers. It can be a solution for the regions that are not covered by the terrestrial transmitters or for those places in which terrestrial networks are not economically justified an alternative for the households which, despite being in the DTT area, do not have a strong and qualitative signal. Moreover, through this platform, future valuable services could be offered, like HDTV transmissions, broadband connectivity, telephony and multimedia services", said Sjödin.
The digitalization process is still in early stages in Romania, but the administration has pledged to complete the switchover by 2012, in line with the E.U. recommendation to its member states. SIRIUS recommends a platform-neutral legislative and regulatory framework allowing the involvement of all distribution platforms for an effective switchover. This is in line with the European Commission recommendation - the E.C. in 2008 said that a state support that is exclusively directed to DTT is incompatible with the principles of the Common Market.
SIRIUS emphasizes that satellite is not only a cost-effective solution, but also an environmentally friendly one. TV broadcast by satellite saves substantially more energy than TV distributed via a terrestrial network or broadband. In addition to energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions and materials used, TV broadcast by satellite is a winner, with 0.4 g of waste per digital television channel, household and year, compared to 37 g for terrestrial TV and 78 g for TV via fibre-optic.
SIRIUS has already a strong local presence in Romania with all cable operators receiving signal from SIRIUS 4 satellite, for which the company also provides customer support with hands-on assistance, training and education. At the end of 2008, SIRIUS had coverage of 5.12 million households in Romania.
About SES SIRIUS AB www.ses-SIRIUS.com
SES SIRIUS AB owns and operates the SIRIUS satellite system which is the leading satellite system in the Nordic and Baltic countries and in Central and Eastern Europe. It offers cost-effective solutions for TV and radio broadcasts and broadband services in these regions. SIRIUS is positioned at 5 degrees East and offers reliable communication links across Europe.
SES SIRIUS AB is 90 per cent owned by SES ASTRA, one of the world's leading satellite operators and 10 per cent by the state-owned company the Swedish Space Corporation.
For additional information, please contact:
Anna-Karin Modigh
SES SIRIUS AB
E-mail: anna-karin.modigh@ses-sirius.com
Tel.: +46 8 505 645 00
Catalin Codreanu
Mmd Corporate, PA&PR Consultants
E-mail: catalin.codreanu@mmdcee.com
+40 744 642 824
