Ethiopian Broadcasters Migrate to SES Satellites

Photo: SES

SES signed two agreements with Association of Ethiopian Broadcasters (AEB) and the Ethiopian Broadcasting Cooperation (EBC) that aims to result in the creation of a dedicated Ethiopian TV environment. In particular, the AEB agreement will see the most popular Ethiopian TV channels migrate to a new TV neighborhood hosted by SES’s NSS-12 satellite at 57 degrees East.

The migration agreement with AEB will create a dedicated TV neighborhood for Ethiopians on SES’s East Africa Digital TV platform on NSS-12 at 57 degrees East and will be launched in August 2019. The consolidation of Ethiopian content into one prime TV neighbourhood under a new orbital location means that the AEB members comprising private broadcasters EBS, Fana Broadcasting, Walta TV, Arts TV, Afrihealth, OBS, LTV, Kana, JTV, DWTV, Asham TV, Ahadu TV, Ministry of Education and Nahoo TV should be able to expand their audience reach.  In a separate agreement with SES, the public and regional channels including ETV News, ETV Entertainment, ETV Languages, OBN TV, Tigray TV, South TV and Amhara TV led by the public service broadcaster EBC will also be distributed via this Ethiopian-dedicated TV neighborhood. The Ethiopian content via NSS-12 will be broadcast mainly in High-Definition (HD).

“We are at a critical juncture in Ethiopia. We want to harness the momentum for change and create a truly Ethiopian TV neighbourhood that will deliver local content to viewers in high quality, and fuel growth in the Ethiopian media sector,” said Amman Fissehazion, Chairman of AEB. “We are pleased to be working with SES and its local team toward this goal as they provide the dedication and experience needed to successfully implement such an ambitious project.”