TV News South Africa

Successful launch of new pay TV satellite

The SES satellite that will deliver On Digital Media (ODM)'s broadcast channels to South Africa, and later to sub-Saharan Africa, has been successfully launched, ODM announced today, Wednesday, 28 November 2007.

Commenting on the launch, Steve Rich, VP of SES Astra, ODM's technology partner, said, “SES Astra will provide state-of-the-art services to ODM from the SIRIUS 4 satellite. The SIRIUS 4 satellite will be located at 5° East, its orbital position for delivering broadcast and broadband services across Europe, as well as transmitting high definition Television (HDTV) channels.”

According to Vino Govender, director of ODM, SES ASTRA is developing a video neighbourhood over Africa and will use the SIRIUS 4 bandwidth to deliver free-to-air and subscription television to broadcasters.

"We are very proud and satisfied that the mission has been a success," concluded Rich. "It is the result of excellent collaboration on the part of our launch partners, International Launch Services and Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems."

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