[Satellite TODAY Insider 02-03-11] SES Astra has entered into a contract with Italian network operator Tivuitalia to provide capacity from the 31.5 degrees East orbital position, SES Astra announced Feb. 2.
    Tivuitalia will use the capacity for contribution services, enabling the transmission of digital TV and radio signals to its digital terrestrial network in Italy. SES Astra called the deal a “significant breakthrough” for the company’s Italian market strategy, as it looks to make progress in the country’s capacity market, which is dominated by Eutelsat.
   “We are convinced that SES Astra, being a new entrant in the Italian market, is a perfect partner for the development of our business,” Tivuitalia CEO Antonio Mazzara said in a statement. “SES Astra offers a comprehensive end-to-end solution for both contribution and monitoring services that allows Tivuitalia to deliver its customers an outstanding service for the transmission of programs in the DTT market,”
    In addition to capacity, SES Astra also will provide satellite-based broadband services for remote monitoring and control of digital terrestrial transmitters using its Astra2Connect broadband service. The terrestrial transmitters, part of Tivuitalia’s digital terrestrial network, will be connected to Tivuitalia’s operational premises via the Astra2Connect broadband platform.
   SES Astra hopes to replicate in Italy its success with the French digital terrestrial satellite market. SES Astra’s French broadcast platform, TNTSat, launched in 2007, recently announced it was delivering service to 2.7 million receivers at the end of 2010, with 800,000 additional receivers sold during the year.
   SES also faces competition in Italy from pay-TV operator Sky Italia, which signed a partnership agreement with Fastweb Feb. 1 that enables the combination of the Sky satellite-TV offer with Fastweb’s broadband Internet and landline services. Sky Italia said the deal aims to make its channels available on more platforms other than satellite.

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