SES Astra added nearly 1 million households in 2005 to reach 16.2 million TV households receiving Astra satellite programming in Germany, the company announced. Nearly 6.3 million homes received digital programming in 2005, an increase of more than 1.8 million households, or nearly 41 percent, over 2004.

According to a recent TNS Infratest survey, there were 37.3 million analog and digital TV households in Germany at the end of 2005. The total number of satellite households rose by 5.9 percent to 16.4 million, with satellite supplying some 44 percent of all TV households.