SES Platform Services GmbH (previously ASTRA Platform Services GmbH, later MX1, now part of SES Video) was a subsidiary company of

SES SES, S.E.S., Ses and similar variants can refere to: Business and economics * Socioeconomic status * Scottish Economic Society, a learned society in Scotland * SES, callsign of the TV station SES/RTS (Mount Gambier, South Australia) * SES S.A., ...

(owner and operator of the Astra satellites) based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg . From its headquarters in

Unterföhring Unterföhring is a municipality in Upper Bavaria. It lies adjacent to the northeast side of Munich, and is one of the nearest suburbs to Munich's central district. History Before the establishment of Munich around 1158, an important crossing exi ...

near

Munich, Germany Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, SES Platform Services operated a broadcasting centre, providing a wide range of services, including content management,

playout In broadcasting, channel playout is the generation of the source signal of a radio or television channel produced by a broadcaster, coupled with the transmission of this signal for primary distribution or direct-to-audience distribution via any ...

encryption In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Ideally, only authorized parties can decip ...

multiplexing In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...

, satellite uplinks and other

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 advanc ...

media broadcast services for the

broadcast industry Broadcasting is the distribution (business), distribution of sound, audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio ...

. Following completion of the acquisition by SES Platform Services of global digital media services provider

RR Media RR Media was a NASDAQ listed provider of global digital media services to the broadcast industry and content owners. Its services can be divided into four main groups: global content distribution network (satellite, fiber and the internet); cont ...

in July 2016, the name of the merged company was changed to MX1 In September 2019, MX1 was merged into the SES Video division and the MX1 brand dropped. Before changing to MX1, SES Platform Services distributed more than 300 digital TV channels (including HD)and radio stations, interactive services and data services. In August 2013, SES Platform Services won an international tender by

Turner Broadcasting System Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (alternatively known as Turner Entertainment Networks from 2019 until 2022) was an American television and media conglomerate. Founded by Ted Turner and based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner (lat ...

, starting November 2013, to provide playout for the broadcast channels,

Boomerang A boomerang () is a thrown tool, typically constructed with aerofoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight. A returning boomerang is designed to return to the thrower, while a non-returning b ...

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

glitz* Glitz is a Latin American pay television channel that was launched on 1 May 2011, replacing Fashion TV, after the license agreement between the French channel and the now-Glitz* parent Warner Bros. Discovery International (division of Warner Bro ...

, RT,

TNT Film WarnerTV Film, formerly Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and TNT Film, is a German pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery International. The channel broadcasts movies both in their original language and dubbed into German. The channel ...

and

TNT Serie WarnerTV Serie (until 24 September 2021: ''TNT Serie'') is a German pay television channel dedicated to broadcast television series. The channel was rebranded into WarnerTV Serie on 25 September 2021. Distribution The station was operated by Tu ...

(in both SD and HD) for the German-speaking market, digitization of existing Turner content, and playout for Turner on-demand and

catch-up The idea of convergence in economics (also sometimes known as the catch-up effect) is the hypothesis that poorer economies' per capita incomes will tend to grow at faster rates than richer economies, and in the Solow-Swan growth model, economic g ...

services in Germany, Austria, Switzerland the Benelux region.

History

Originally called DPC (Digital Playout Centre GmbH), SES Platform Services was founded in 1996 by Kirch, a German media company. The German Pay TV provider, Premiere (now

Sky Deutschland Sky Deutschland GmbH, branded as Sky, is a German media company that operates a direct broadcast satellite Pay TV platform in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (through Sky Switzerland). It provides a collection of basic and premium digital sub ...

) was part of the Kirch group and DPC provided (and, as SES Platform Services, continues to provide) Premiere/Sky Deutschland, as well as other private and public German broadcasters, playout, multiplexing, encrypted satellite uplinks and other media broadcast services. In June 2004, SES announced that it had bought the controlling interest in DPC from Premiere with the intention of launching an "open" pay-TV platform for Germany using Premiere-compatible digital set top boxes. In December 2004, a requirement for regulatory approval from the German Federal Cartels Office (

Bundeskartellamt The Federal Cartel Office (, ; BKartA) is Germany's national competition regulatory agency. First established in 1958, BKartA comes under the authority of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. The agency is headquartered ...

) meant that the deal was changed to 100% of DPC, to give SES sole ownership. DPC was later renamed to ASTRA Platform Services GmbH (APS), and in April 2012 to SES Platform Services. In February 2016, it was announced that SES Platform Services had agreed, subject to regulatory approvals, to purchase

, a global digital media services provider to the broadcast and media industries, based in Israel.

Services

The main services provided to broadcasters by SES Platform Services are Content Management, Playout, Encryption, Distribution and Interactive services. Customers include Sky Deutschland and

ProSiebenSat.1 ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE (officially abbreviated as P7S1, formerly ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG) is a German mass media & digital company. It operates in three segments: Entertainment, Dating and Commerce & Ventures. The company is listed on the Fran ...

in Germany, Top TV in South Africa, channels such as Home Shopping Europe, DSF,

Tele 5 Tele 5 is a German free-to-air television channel that broadcasts classic American films, series, cartoons and Japanese anime. On 3 July 2020, Discovery, Inc. agreed to acquire the channel from Leonine Holding, completing the purchase on 1 Se ...

, 9Live, and DMAX, and most German

HDTV High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since 1936; in more recent times, it refers to the g ...

channels, including those from Discovery, Tectime TV and Anixe. SES Platform Services' content management encompasses digitization of tape-based content, format conversion of video files, quality control, tape storage (now being superseded by digital storage), and a growing digital archive service with integrated digital asset management systems. SES Platform Services uses the DIVArchive digital archiving system from Front Porch Digital with (as of mid 2009), over 1 PB capacity storing tens of thousands of hours of content. New material is added at the rate of about 1000–2000 hours per month. Although SES Platform Services still provides videotape storage, this has reduced by more than half since digital archiving was introduced. SES Platform Services undertakes the preparation and playout of content from tape or digital files according to the customer's supplied schedule. SES Platform Services provides customers with visual quality control, the incorporation of on-screen branding and graphics (in 2D or 3D),

EPG Electronic programming guides (EPGs) and interactive programming guides (IPGs) are menu-based systems that provide users of television, radio and other media applications with continuously updated menus that display scheduling information for ...

data and expandable services that range from automatic small channel start-up systems to high-end systems with full-time monitoring and support. Where needed, interactive services can also be provided to broadcasters, including HbbTV (Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV). SES Platform Services also designs and develops broadcasters’ web pages, and has developed the Blucom interactive TV-service that combines broadcasting and mobile technologies to offer services such as programme announcements, weather, lottery and sports results, and further programme information. Blucom enables interaction such as voting, downloads, chats, and advertising. It also gives mobile phones the ability to stream live TV broadcasts. Blucom synchronizes TV content with the additional information in real-time. Content is sent to a set-top box via satellite, then to a mobile phone via Bluetooth, or directly to the mobile phone via

UMTS The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the Inte ...

GPRS General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a packet oriented mobile data standard on the 2G and 3G cellular communication network's global system for mobile communications (GSM). GPRS was established by European Telecommunications Standards Insti ...

. The return channel operates from the viewer’s mobile via

SMS Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...

or UMTS/GPRS. For pay-TV broadcasts, SES Platform Services provides channel encryption for subscription and pay-per-view protection with

Conax Conax develops television encryption, conditional access and content security for digital television. Conax provide CAS technology to pay TV operators in 85 countries. The company has offices in Norway (headquarters), Russia, Germany, Brazil, th ...

Cryptoworks In television encryption, Cryptoworks is a DVB conditional access system, developed by Philips CryptoTec but now belonging to Irdeto. Cryptoworks is used by the following pay TV providers: * OSN *Digiturk *the BFBS satellite service * UPC Dir ...

, Irdeto,

Nagravision Nagravision (or Nagra Kudelski or simply Nagra) is a company of the Kudelski Group that develops conditional access systems for digital cable and satellite television. The name is also used for their main products, the Nagravision encryption syste ...

, and

NDS NDS may stand for: * Low German ( nl, Nedersaksisch, links=no, german: Niederdeutsche Sprache, links=no, ISO 639-2 language code: nds), a West Germanic language native to Northern Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands * Lower Saxony (german: Niedersa ...

conditional access Conditional access (CA) is a term commonly used in relation to software and to digital television systems. Conditional access is that ‘just-in-time’ evaluation to ensure the person who is seeking access to content is authorized to access the c ...

systems using

DVB Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) is a set of international open standards for digital television. DVB standards are maintained by the DVB Project, an international industry consortium, and are published by a Joint Technical Committee (JTC) o ...

simulcrypt operation for broadcasts using multiple conditional access systems in parallel, this being a common practice in "free-to-air"(FTA) satellite TV broadcast markets such as Germany. SES Platform Services also provides Microsoft or Flash digital rights management for Internet streamed channels. Although the majority of SES Platform Services broadcasting traffic is digital television channels in SD or HD uplinked to the Astra satellites, SES Platform Services can also distribute programming to mobiles as on-demand content, and as live or on-demand video over the Internet using Windows Media Player, QuickTime or Flash. In April 2011, SES Platform Services opened a new playout centre at its headquarters in Unterföhring to handle expansion of the company, and its client list. The new network operations centre is in a purpose-built new building with the latest technologies including air conditioning based on groundwater cooling, fully redundant power distribution system, and LED screens and LED room lighting in the master control room to minimise heat generation. The old premises are being retained as back-up facilities and the new centre is expected to cope with growth for the next five years. In June 2015 SES Platform Services launched its Fluid Hub managed cloud service for management, playout and distribution of video content for studios, content creators, broadcasting companies, telcos/platforms and other customers. By October 20, the service had 10 customers including Fox International Channels Germany and Turner.

References

{{reflist

External links

SES Video websiteOfficial Astra consumers/viewers' website

Official SES trade/industry site
SES S.A. Satellite television Interactive television Satellite operators

History

Services

See also

References

External links