Friday, 30 March 2012 00:00 JOSHUA BASSEY SES, a global satellite operator, with a fleet of 50 geostationary satellites, has announced tha...
SES, a global satellite operator, with a fleet of 50 geostationary satellites, has announced that it is collaborating with Samsung to drive digital broadcasting via satellite in sub-Saharan Africa.
Samsung will introduce a LED television with an integrated free-to-air satellite receiver, to be distributed in Nigeria, Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire, Senegal, Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon in August 2012, and distribution in additional countries will follow.
The integrated satellite receiver will allow consumers receive free-to-air television channels without the need for an additional set top box, as the LED TV will be directly connected with the satellite dish. In preparation for the launch, SES and Samsung will jointly arrange training sessions with distribution partners and installers to ensure the proper connection of the TV device to the satellite dish. Both partners will also run a joint marketing campaign in June 2012.
As a leader in the free-to-air TV market, SES delivers more than 60 free-to-air channels in more than 40 African countries. The launch of the new Samsung LED TV Free Satellite coincides with more channels becoming available in Africa.
“This collaboration is the first of its kind and will drive digitalisation in Africa,” said Christoph Limmer, SES’s senior director of marketing development and marketing in Africa. “Today, one out of three households in Africa has a TV set but less than 10 million homes receive content in digital format.
Our cooperation will not only help to improve access to digital content for African consumers but it will also encourage African broadcasters to launch more content. In servicing more than 40 African countries, we are well aware of the huge demand for more and higher quality TV services. The opportunity lies in providing an increasingly sophisticated African viewership with a significantly increased number of TV channels – a first for many African countries.”
“The Samsung LED TV free satellite is our contribution to the continent’s efforts to ‘go digital’, providing African consumers with greater choice and broadcasters with the opportunity to grow the region’s media industry,” says Dae Hee Kim, regional product manager at Samsung Africa.
SES is a world-leading satellite operator with a fleet of 50 geostationary satellites. The company provides satellite communications services to broadcasters, content and internet service providers, mobile and fixed network operators and business and governmental organisations worldwide.
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