SES remains positive for DTH
August 25, 2026

By Chris Forrester



SES CEO Adel Al-Saleh mentioned frequently during the satellite company’s H1 results in July that second-half of this year would see an improved performance, especially during Q4. His comments have been echoed by Deepak Mathur, SES’s president of its Media Vertical division.

Speaking to Advanced-Television, Mathur stressed that even though some mature TV markets were seeing a gradual decline in DTH demand (for example, the US and the DirecTV/EchoStar Dish subscriber numbers) other regions were as buoyant as ever. He admitted that the once hugely lucrative days when SES Astra dominated DTH over Europe are less evident today, but SES was still enjoying solid commitments.


“In a general sense I can tell you that I am pleased at the type and quality of commitments we still enjoy in DTH, and especially the length of those commitments. We have DTH and FTA customers extending to 2039 and 2040 and well over a decade of forward business. Of course, the volumes of enquires are less than they were 10 years ago. They have now ‘right-sized’ but the need to deliver the most cost-effective media remains very strong. Demand is very strong from Germany, to Mexico, to India, to the Philippines, to Africa, etc., etc. I remain very bullish on the future for DTH that over the next 18 months or so you will see renewals going well into the next decade. Parts of the challenge that our customers have is to balance between conventional linear TV and streaming,” said Mathur.

He said that the most effective solutions for consumers are coming from those who marry the two technologies – linear and streaming – in one set-top box which gives users satellite TV and streaming services.

Mathur continued: “This allows users to select their ‘appointment to view’ programming from a linear broadcaster like major sports events as well as ‘on demand’ from a streamer. I remain very positive for DTH especially when combined for users with streaming options. I am also convinced that as we move from DVB S1 through DVB S2 we’ll also see DVB-IP become a major opportunity for broadcasters. The IP transmission comes into the home – and we have set-top boxes out there now – and then the signals can be seen by anyone in the home on any device. Our media business continues to evolve and with new features added. And remember our key benefit is that we can reach millions of viewers at super low-costs. The marginal extra cost of reaching another 1 million is zero. These are compelling arguments for broadcasters and are confirmed by significant and very large players in the market. There is a realism from every player that DTH is going to be around for a very long time to come. We have recently made a number of [positive] announcements, including Sky Mexico, and it reflects the shape of the business overall.”

Mathur explained how SES is adjusting to the challenges, noting: “The emerging markets are those that we would now consider to be ‘long tail’. The well-established markets are where the numbers might suffer. The US is a perfect case, where there has been real pressure on the two DTH players there. However, there are developed markets where we are seeing long-term commitments to their DTH contracts. They see the value of satellites, perhaps as part of the distribution mix. The same is true of those emerging markets and where consumers who in the early days might have been happy with the bouquet that was presented but then start saying I cannot get this or that local channel. It might be a sports channel or a news channel. So, we see a change in the dynamic where either the package must be improved or the viewer will add a channel from the Web. But what is true is that everyone, and I mean everyone, is again trying to create the perfect television bundle. The real marriage will be a combination of linear, from satellite, and streaming. Consumers don’t much care how the signal gets to them, provided it arrives at a sensible and affordable cost. They don’t care about delivery but want the optimal choice and at the most cost-effective manner. Hybrid is going to be super-important and IP will be key in the set-top box with satellite.”

SES will be launching an IP-based set-top box in the early part of 2027 with a customer.

“We are working hard on the chip solution for the box, although the costs of the chip and storage is a challenge, but we’ll get there. It will be a full-scale, live, integrated resource with its satellite + IP implementation. I think it will showcase how effective IP can be in the home,” Mathur confirmed.

SES will be exhibiting as usual at IBC this September. Mathur highlighted the event, commenting: “We help create ubiquitous solutions for our clients and their customers. We provide access for them at a very low cost. It could be FTA in Ethiopia or pay-TV in Latin America or FTA in Germany, these are in the engine that fires us. A few years ago a customer said to me that the challenge for us was to modernise satellite. I asked myself what this could mean in the media business which is so fast-changing. Our answer today is developing these satellite and IP hybrid solutions. At IBC we will show for our contribution customers an engine that we developed for our Sports distribution business, but which we have adapted to the customer to decide whether the feed should go onto satellite, or be delivered terrestrially by fibre or whatever. They can monitor the entire signal globally on a single pane of glass. The BBC today could have seven or more fragmented solutions of that signal. They could be using satellite operator A, B or C and perhaps a terrestrial signal or two. It is complex, and difficult to measure or evaluate how that global signal is being handled. Do I have a problem in Hong Kong, or Mexico, or New York? But we can reduce that complexity to a simple process that is seamless to a customer, whether it’s a viewer or another broadcaster and always at the lowest cost per bit.”