SES, RTL extend transmission deal
July 16, 2024
By Chris Forrester
Satellite operator SES and major German-language broadcaster RTL Deutschland have renewed and extended their transmission contracts. Their long-running relationship, serving Germany and Austria, will now run to the end of the decade.
RTL Deutschland’s TV broadcasts will also continue to be available on HD+, SES’s high-definition satellite TV platform in Germany.
The new agreement, which covers the distribution of SD, HD and UHD TV channels via SES’s prime TV neighbourhood at 19.2 degrees East, will help ensure that viewers across the region can access their favourite programmes with an optimal viewing experience, including RTL, VOX, ntv, NITRO, SUPER RTL, TOGGO plus, RTLup, VOXup, RTLZWEI and the RTL UHD event channel.
In addition to satellite capacity, SES will now provide uplinking services for RTL Deutschland’s TV channels directly from its facilities near Munich, Germany and Betzdorf, Luxembourg.
“SES has been an important partner in delivering RTL Deutschland’s linear programming for many years now. We are very pleased to continue and expand this excellent partnership with a long-term agreement. Thanks to SES’s satellites at 19.2 degrees East, we are also able to regularly bring attractive content to our viewers in the highest image quality with our UHD event channel,” said Andre Prahl, Chief Distribution Officer at RTL Deutschland.
“Our extended partnership with RTL Deutschland underpins the importance of satellite in delivering content cost effectively, whether in SD, HD or UHD, to the 18 million satellite TV households in Germany and Austria and enabling them to continue enjoying RTL Deutschland’s diverse programming in the quality they prefer,” added Norbert Hölzle, Global Head of Media at SES.
With a mission to augment its satellite fleet at the 19.2 degrees East video neighbourhood, SES launched the ASTRA 1P satellite on June 20th 2024 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, further enabling the delivery of premium TV content to 119 million TV homes across Europe. Astra 1P should be on station and ready for business later this coming winter.