Ethiopian viewers get HD TV channels for the first time

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For years, Ethiopian TV viewers have had to navigate through a plethora of multinational content in a variety of foreign languages in order to locate their favourite channels. That changes today with the launch of Ethiosat – the first-ever dedicated Ethiopian TV platform to host Ethiopia’s most popular local channels. This has been made possible by agreements between the Association of Ethiopian Broadcasters (AEB), the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC), and the world’s leading satellite operator, SES.

Ethiosat is hosted on SES’s NSS-12 satellite at 57 degrees East and delivers over 30 channels for Ethiopian audiences only, with 12 of those channels already in High Definition (HD) quality.

Amman Fissehazion, Chairman of the AEB, said, “Up until now, the majority of Ethiopia’s content has been broadcast from an orbital location that also supplies content to Middle Eastern and North African countries, which explains the often confusing mix of content. By migrating the most popular Ethiopian TV channels to a new location on SES’s satellite, we’ve created an Ethiopian-only TV offering, that also delivers a variety of channels in HD, a first in Ethiopia.”

Fissehazion added that this is also a great time for the millions of homes in Ethiopia that currently do not receive TV services to bring TV sets into their home. “For Ethiopians looking to buy a new TV set and receive content from the dedicated TV neighbourhood, we recommend purchasing an HD TV whenever possible, as this will allow for a higher picture quality.”

In addition, the launch of Ethiosat will offer Ethiopians a larger offering of both local and relevant international content in the future. Fissehazion said, “We believe consolidating all Ethiopian TV channels and broadcasting them from one orbital position will fuel growth in the Ethiopian media sector, as local networks will now be able to easily expand their audience reach. This will foster healthy and growing advertising markets, which will result in a greater variety of content, and more localised content.”

To access Ethiosat direct-to-home (DTH), Ethiopian TV viewers must have their respective local satellite antenna installer change the position of their antenna. This will allow them to receive the content from SES’s NSS-12 satellite.

“SES is supporting every aspect of this launch and providing on-the-ground services to ensure the success of Ethiosat, which includes training local installers to correctly repoint the satellite dishes of each TV household to ensure a seamless migration. Ethiosat is bringing a completely new television experience to Ethiopians. We intend for the reliability and quality of the new platform to attract many new viewers, fuelling a bright future for the Ethiopian media sector,” said Ferdinand Kayser, CEO of SES Video.