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SES Astra SA was a
corporate A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as "born out of s ...
subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...
of SES, based in Betzdorf, in eastern
Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...
, that maintained and operated the Astra series of geostationary
communication satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. ...
s between 2001 and 2011. Formed in 1985 as Société Européenne des Satellites ( SES), it was Europe's first private satellite operator. In November 2001, upon the purchase of GE Americom from
General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...
(renamed to SES Americom), SES Global was formed as the parent company to SES Americom and SES Astra. SES Astra was formed at that time as a subsidiary company to contain all of SES's existing European based satellite operations. In September 2011, SES Astra and sister subsidiary SES World Skies (formed from SES Americom and SES New Skies) were merged back into SES to streamline operations under a single management system. Subsidiaries of SES Astra, such as HD Plus and ASTRA Broadband Services became direct subsidiaries of SES. The brand name, ''Astra'', representing the satellite family and the broadcasting system continues to be used and, although the corporate website (www.ses-astra.com) was closed when SES Astra was consolidated into the parent, the consumer site
astra.ses
remains in operation. A book, '' High Above'', telling the story of the creation and development of Astra, SES, and SES Astra, and the history of recent developments of the European TV and media industry, along with their context in the wider development of broadcasting and space technology, was published in April 2010 to mark the 25th anniversary of SES.


Broadcasting statistics

At the end of 2011, Astra satellite broadcasts were received in over 135 million households in Europe and North Africa; 57.6 million households in Astra services via a direct-to-home dish. Another 67.8 million households received Astra services via a cable headend, and 9.8 million households received Astra services via an
IPTV Internet Protocol television (IPTV), also called TV over broadband, is the service delivery of television over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. Usually sold and run by a Telephone company, telecom provider, it consists of broadcast live telev ...
network. The satellite constellation was broadcasting 200
high-definition television High-definition television (HDTV) describes a television or video system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since at least 1933; in more recent times, it ref ...
channels. Sixteen million households watched high-definition TV channels via Astra satellites.''ASTRA Satellite Monitor research''


Broadcasting developments

SES Astra was involved in the introduction of
digital TV Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an innovative adv ...
,
HDTV High-definition television (HDTV) describes a television or video system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since at least 1933; in more recent times, it ref ...
, and 3D TV in Europe. The first high-definition TV channel in Europe (Euro1080) broadcast via Astra 19.2°E and SES Astra both supported new HDTV channels and pressed for standards, founding the European HDTV Forum and the HD ready TV specification. SES Astra has also been prominent in the development and roll-out of commercial 3D TV services for Europe, and in September 2010 announced an initiative with the backing of the major European public and private broadcasters and the consumer electronics industry, to support the introduction of 3D TV in Europe, including agreement on the minimum technical specifications required for broadcasting and receiving 3D television. Europe's first commercial 3D TV channel, Sky 3D launched from the Astra 28.2°E position on 1 October 2010. SES Astra was a member of the Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) consortium of broadcasting and Internet industry companies that is promoting and establishing an open European standard (called HbbTV) for hybrid set-top boxes for the reception of broadcast TV and broadband multimedia applications with a single user interface.


See also

*
ASTRA2Connect SES Broadband (previously ASTRA2Connect) is a two-way Satellite internet, satellite broadband Internet service available across Europe, which launched in March 2007, and uses the Astra (satellite), Astra series of geostationary orbit, geostation ...
* Astra Digital Radio * ASTRA Platform Services * HD+ *'' High Above'' (book) * List of broadcast satellites * SES * SES Sirius * SES New Skies * SES Americom * Solaris Mobile


References


External links


SES fleet information and mapOfficial SES siteASTRA2Connect websiteSolaris Mobile website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ses Astra + Telecommunications companies established in 1985 Telecommunications companies disestablished in 2011 1985 establishments in Luxembourg 2011 disestablishments in Luxembourg Telecommunications companies of Luxembourg Direct broadcast satellite services Communications satellite operators Betzdorf, Luxembourg