SES enters Eutelsat’s backyard



SES Astra has struck a relationship with Milano Teleport in Northern Italy. Headquartered in Venice, Milano Teleport will feed programming up to Astra's 23.5 deg East orbital position.

Italy has, by and large, been looked after by Eutelsat where former CEO Giuliano Berretta's strong Italian links helped cement solid relationships with Italy's main broadcasters.

SES is now making a major push to secure at least some of this business. "Milano Teleport intends to use the capacity to provide transmission services to local and regional channels, as well as to ethnic channels that want to reach out to their particular target group and extend their coverage beyond terrestrial transmission following the completion of the terrestrial analogue switch-off in 2012," says an Astra release. "The partnership with Milano Teleport adds another element to SES Astra's strategy to position itself as an alternative satellite operator in Italy. It follows cooperation agreements with public broadcaster RAI, housing industry association Anaci and installer training school Eurosatellite."

Pietro Guerrieri, Managing Director of Milano teleport and a former Eutelsat staffer, said: "Taking part in the development of a new satellite platform for DTH broadcasting in Italy is a very exciting commitment for our company. We are delighted to be taking up this challenge in partnership with SES Astra which is acknowledged as a key player in the satellite business in Europe."