SatLink extends Nigerian TV Market reach for Direct-To-Home African content distribution

15th October, 2012

SatLink Communications Ltd.,announced that it has been selected by six Nigerian TV Channels to provide end-to-end broadcast services and content distribution to Central and Pan-Africa on the AMOS 5 satellite Ku-band and C-Band platforms. The broadcasters will also be utilising SatLink’s end to end broadcast solutions including the company HD Playout Centre services to enable the distribution of the customer's TV channel to suit African market demands.

Utilising the AMOS 5 satellite, on 17˚East, Central-Africa Ku-band reach, SatLink will enable two international Christian Religious Channels, Voice of God (VOG) and Champions of Fire TV (CFTV) and Hola TV, a Nigerian entertainment channel, to effectively distribute content easily to Direct to Home viewers in the Western Africa, Eastern Africa and Central Africa regions.

On the C-band beam, Hosanna Broadcast Network will contribute their Christian and entertainment programs to Pan Africa, CFTV will broadcast also on Amos 5 C-band via Satlink and Optima Sports TV will be broadcasting two terrestrial sports channels carrying premium content from the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, the FA Premier League, La Liga and the Bundesliga to its audience of Sub-Saharan African viewers.

The selection of the AMOS 5 Ku- and C-band will extend the channels’ reach to many of the emerging broadcast markets within Africa including Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique. The provisioning of these services from one provider was one of the requirements for all channels as they looked for fully professional, reliable and redundant solutions that enabled them to directly access the African viewers. Taking advantage of SatLink’s HD Playout Centre, Christian channel Voice of God (VOG) and Hola TV will Playout and Uplink their channels directly from Jerusalem to SatLink's MCPC platforms.

David Hochner, CEO of SatLink, commented: “These latest African customer announcements represent an important milestone in our engagement with the African market place as a strategic focus for our company. These are perfect examples of where we can add value to African broadcasters looking for an end-to-end service including all equipment and installations as well as satellite distribution and playout services to deliver localised content into and out of Africa. "

He continued: “One of the key challenges facing broadcasters trying to extend their reach into Africa is finding a partner that is able to provide the full range of end-to-end broadcast services that are needed to make an impact. This is more than providing the uplink, turnaround and downlinking services, broadcasters are asking us for the full playout services capabilities and importantly the localisation of content dependent on the specific region. We are seeing a great demand, particularly from those channel’s based within Africa, for the provisioning of these services all from one sole provider. With our strategically located teleport as the gateway to Africa, the infrastructure and fully professional playout services already available and in use and our AMOS 5 platforms, we are the perfect partner for those broadcasters looking to transmit and distribute content to, within and out of Africa.”