SES ASTRA and GLOBECAST DISTRIBUTE ORANGE TV OVER SATELLITE

TV offer from French telecommunications operator Orange to be distributed from ASTRA’s prime position 19.2 degrees East

Betzdorf (Luxembourg) / Paris, 6 January 2009 – SES ASTRA, an SES company (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG), and GlobeCast, a subsidiary of France Télécom Group, announced the signature of a capacity contract with the French telecommunications operator Orange to distribute its new Orange TV offer via satellite, particularly targeting French homes with no TV coverage over ADSL.

Orange TV is part of a triple play offer (TV, telephone, internet) and will be broadcast by the ASTRA satellite system from the prime orbital position 19.2 degrees East, which already serves more than five million French direct-to-home households.

“Our satellites help Orange to greatly enhance the technical reach of its new Orange TV offer,” said Nick Stubbs, Managing Director of ASTRA France. “Our 19.2 degrees East position is the leading orbital slot for direct-to-home satellite reception in France, and allows Orange to reach customers in regions with insufficient ADSL coverage. Our agreement with Orange demonstrates the role of satellite as a perfect complement to terrestrial distribution technologies in building triple play offers with truly universal reach. It also further strengthens the position of ASTRA in the French market.”

GlobeCast will be handling transmission of Orange TV, including digitalisation, MPEG-4 encoding, multiplexing, encryption and uplink services. GlobeCast is a subsidiary of France Télécom and one of SES’s major worldwide partners.

For further information please contact:
Markus Payer
SES ASTRA
+ 352 710 725 500
markus.payer {at} ses-astra(.)com

Matthew Rosenstein
GlobeCast
+33 1 5595 2720
matthew.rosenstein {at} globecast(.)com

About SES ASTRA www.ses-astra.com

SES ASTRA is the leading Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite system in Europe. The satellite fleet currently comprises 14 ASTRA and two SIRIUS satellites. The combined satellite system delivers services to more than 117 million DTH and cable households and transmits a total of 2,433 analogue and digital television and radio channels. SES ASTRA also provides satellite-based multimedia, internet and telecommunication services to enterprises, governments and their agencies. With more than 55 High Definition (HD) channels on its main orbital positions, ASTRA and SIRIUS represent the most important HDTV platform for Europe’s leading broadcasters. The prime orbital positions for ASTRA and SIRIUS are 19.2° East, 28.2° East, 23.5° East, 5° East and 31.5° East.

SES ASTRA is an SES company (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG). SES owns three market-leading satellite operators, SES ASTRA in Europe, SES AMERICOM in North America, and SES NEW SKIES which provides global coverage and connectivity. The company owns 90 percent of SES SIRIUS in Europe, as well as strategic participations in Ciel in Canada and Quetzsat in Mexico. SES provides outstanding satellite communications solutions via a fleet of 39 satellites in 26 orbital positions around the globe. Additional information on SES is available at: www.ses.com

About GlobeCast www.globecast.com

GlobeCast is a subsidiary of France Telecom, is the leading global provider of content management and worldwide transmission services for professional broadcast delivery. The company operates a secure global satellite and fibre network to manage and transport 10 million hours of video and other rich media each year, providing ingest, aggregation, transmission and repurposing of content for delivery to direct-to-home satellite platforms; cable, IPTV, mobile and broadband headends; as well as corporate and digital signage networks. GlobeCast’s fleet of SNG trucks deploys globally to support coverage of the biggest news and sporting events each year in SD and HDTV formats. Borders are non-existent when it comes to GlobeCast’s services, thanks to the company’s 12 teleports and technical operations centres as well as its 18 offices in Europe, North and Latin America, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Australia.

Vanessa Ching
Senior Manager, Marketing Communications – Asia

GlobeCast
600 North Bridge Road #13-02/05 Parkview Square
188778 Singapore

T : 65.6325.4222
F : +65 227 9782

vanessa.ching {at} globecast(.)com
www.globecast.com