Plans by German service provider Fremdsprachenplattform (FSP) to offer cable companies a bundled selection of foreign radio and TV channels for distribution to their subscribers have taken a step further.

According to Astra operator SES, FSP has booked a full 72MHz transponder on Eutelsat’s Eurobird satellite (28.5 degrees East) for feeding cable headends. The German company is going to utilise one of the transponders rented by SES from P&T Luxembourg. The telecommunications group has rented the capacity from SES’s main competitor in which it was one of the founding members.

FSP has already signed carriage deals with cable operators representing 3.5 million cable homes with further negotiations to be finalised soon. The offer will initially include 16 TV channels in 13 languages to serve the main ethnic minority communities living in Germany such as channels from Turkey, Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean region. The next steps will be the extension of the range to 30 TV channels and the offering of the services to cable operators in all European countries. In addition to the co-operation with SES, the FSP initiative is supported by cable operators and the housing industry.