Ghana to benefit from Eutelsat and Spacecom digital market expansion

Eutelsat Communications, one of the world's leading satellite operators has signed a partnership agreement with Spacecom to drive expansion of digital entertainment services at one of Africa’s fastest-growing video neighbourhoods.

The two companies have established a framework for cross-commercialisation of Ku-band capacity connected to the high-power African service areas of Eutelsat’s EUTELSAT 16A satellite at 16° East and Spacecom’s AMOS-5 satellite at 17° East.

The combined channel line-up of both satellites already comprises over 100 free-to-air African and international channels that can be received by standard 80cm dishes in a vast footprint covering over 30 million TV homes located notably in Francophone Africa and extending to Ghana and Nigeria.

“This agreement between Eutelsat and Spacecom shows how neighbouring operators can combine their strengths to offer Africa’s broadcast community the full benefits of their expertise,” said Rodney Benn, Eutelsat’s Regional Vice President for Africa “Spacecom is one of the most dynamic satellite companies in the African marketplace and we look forward to working with them on building on our shared vision of aggregating the most compelling content for TV viewers at a single neighbourhood.”

 

Leveraging their respective knowledge of Africa’s fast-growing broadcast markets, the two operators will pool their commercial efforts to ignite further growth at the 16-17° East position, which is already the leading DTH and free-to-air video neighbourhood in West Africa.

In addition to improving the quality and effectiveness of broadcasting services, this unique agreement raises the bar for service continuity for broadcasters and will deliver viewers a larger channel line-up from one virtual orbital position.

Launched in 2011 and equipped with identical Ku-band African footprints, the EUTELSAT 16A and AMOS-5 satellites host free-to-air channels as well as pay-TV, DTT and free-to-view platforms for media companies who are increasingly turning to satellites as the fastest and most competitive route to digital content delivery.

Amir Carmeli, SVP Sales West Africa & France of Spacecom, said: "Africa is a tremendously dynamic market for digital broadcasting. Our agreement with Eutelsat enriches viewers' experiences throughout the continent. By creating a joint effort that aggregates content and improves the commercial reach of advertisers, we are optimising the broadcast environment. The availability of diverse and quality broadcasts from Africa and abroad, extends the limits of African entertainment possibilities and develops social and educational values.”

Future of broadcasting industry discussed at DISCOP Africa

The future of broadcasting has been the focus of discussions at the ninth edition of DISCOP Africa, an annual tradeshow that brings together buyers, sellers and producers of televised entertainment content, seeking to do business with and across the continent.

This year’s conference is significant as governments and regulators are under pressure to ensure Africa’s television ecosystem fully switches from analogue to digital by June 2015.

The industry is now worth half a billion dollars in annual TV content sales, a figure that has doubled since 2010 – 95% of these sales are initiated or concluded at DISCOP Africa.

This mandate has come with its set of challenges and it is becoming apparent that the industry will not achieve 100% penetration without a combination of new platforms and collaboration between all players within the ecosystem.

Eutelsat, one of the world's leading satellite operators, leading discussions at the future of broadcasting in Africa at the DISCOP.

Rodney Benn, Africa Regional Vice-President for Eutelsat, has been exploring the role satellites will play in the fundamental transformation of the African TV market – ensuring broad access to choice, quality and competitive offers.

“There is a lot to do. The main thing is to make sure that the network is physically ready,” he told Luv Fm on the opportunities and challenges with the rollout of the digital terrestrial television (DTT) network infrastructure.

Tanzania and Mauritius are the only African countries that have been successful in the switch over.

The transition from analogue to digital would require every household to purchase either a digital television set or buy decoder for their current analogue TV sets before they can watch TV in the near future.

Mr. Benn said Ghana needs between 10-20million set of boxes to be supplied but observed that the speed of manufacturing the digi-boxes and distribution of the boxes are challenges the country needs to surmount.

Since January 2014, the National Communications Authority (NCA) has given standards for the type of decoder or set top boxes (STBs) that Ghana would be allowed in Ghana. Some stations have others are distributing approved decoders.

The first phase of the rollout is expected to be complete by end of year 2014 when the country would begin to switch off the analogue television systems.

But the network infrastructure rollover would cost the country over US$100million.

“Implementing a DTT strategy or DTT project is a function of public awareness, finance and it’s a function of political will and I think all of those things exist in Ghana,” stated Mr. Benn. He however says public education on the DTT needs to be intensified whilst government and the private sector collaborate to effectively manage the rollout the migration plan.

DISCOP Africa provides investors looking to fund projects and services in TV content delivery and management solutions the engage stakeholders in the digital switchover.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh