Eutelsat has announced that its satellite combination at 7/8° West, which is occupied by Eutelsat and Nilesat satellites, is now offering 175 HD channels, 100 of which are exclusive.
This announcement was made at the Dubai CABSAT show this month.
The HD channel count is 175 and represents a rise of 50% compared to a year ago, and the company believes that the satellite combination is setting the pace for HD broadcasting in the Middle East and North Africa. They also stated that free-to-air Arabic HD content, with almost 100 channels, now outnumbers pay-TV with just 77 channels. There has been a demand for HD in the region and now there is a penetration of 50% on average per country.
Ghassan Murat, VP for business development and strategy at Eutelsat Dubai stated at the show, that the company’s 2016 survey in the region confirmed the 7/8° West satellite combination serves 52.3 million homes, up from 49.7 million in 2014.
