Satellite operator SES has announced the launch of Ethiosat – the first-ever dedicated Ethiopian TV platform to host Ethiopia’s most popular local channels.
Ethiosat is hosted on SES’s NSS-12 satellite at 57 degrees East and delivers over 30 channels for Ethiopian audiences only. Twelve of those channels are in High Definition (HD) quality.
To access Ethiosat direct-to-home (DTH), Ethiopian TV viewers must have their local satellite antenna installer change the position of their antenna. SES says it is providing on-the-ground services to support Ethiosat, which includes training local installers to correctly repoint the satellite dishes of each TV household to ensure a seamless migration.
This new service has been made possible, SES says, by agreements between the Association of Ethiopian Broadcasters (AEB), the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) and SES.
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.”
The partners hope that millions of homes in Ethiopia that currently do not receive TV services will be encouraged to bring TV sets into their home by the chance to receive content from a dedicated TV neighbourhood.
