MUMBAI: SES has announced that the Philippine direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV provider Global Satellite (GSAT) has contracted its fourth transponder on NSS-11, cementing SES' orbital position of 108.2 degrees east as one of Asia's leading video neighbourhoods.

The multi-year deal will see the transfer of current capacity usage by GSAT from NSS-11 to SES-9, currently scheduled for launch in 2015. When launched, SES-9 will be the largest SES satellite dedicated to the Asia-Pacific region. The new spacecraft will be providing expansion capacity for DTH, enterprise, mobility and government services across the region.

GSAT, the satellite division of First United Broadcasting Corp (FUBC), launched its DTH service in 2008 on the NSS-11 Ku-band satellite, providing subscribers with access to an improved mix of international programmes including English, Mandarin, Korean, Tagalog, Japanese and Spanish channels. With this additional capacity, GSAT will be offering 12 high definition (HD) channels and 47 standard definition (SD) channels to more than 200,000 subscribers across the Philippine archipelago.

FUBC president and CEO Philip J. Chien said, "Our ability to offer highly reliable DTH satellite TV to our growing base of subscribers in the Philippines is largely due to the comprehensive footprints of NSS-11, and, from 2015, SES-9. We are confident that SES' expertise will enable us to grow in our market and increase both the quality and quantity of channels in our pay-TV offerings."

SES Asia-Pacific and the Middle East sr. VP commercial Deepak Mathur said, "We are delighted to confirm that GSAT, our long-term customer on NSS-11, will become a key anchor customer on SES-9. At SES, we are investing in new satellites to make sure that our customers enjoy business continuity, as well as delivering vital capacity to support their growth in some of the most dynamic media markets in the world."