SES announced at its Investor Day in London, last month, that it is now carrying 7610 TV channels on its satellites, which is a rise of 4% compared to the same time last year. Of these channels, 2,496 were in HD, which is a rise of 6% compared to the same time last year. The company also announced that the HD penetration rate is now 33%. The company is also carrying 22 UHD channels on its satellites, which is a rise of 47% compared to the same time last year.
SES European channel count was around 1800 SD channels, 740 of which were also carried in HD. The SES, wholly-owned distribution and play-out arm, MX1, is now handling 2,750 channels worldwide.
SES also quoted Euroconsult data which is forecasting that by 2025 there would be some 1116 UHD channels out of a global total of about 47,300 channels, but not all of these will be available on SES satellites. Of the total number, about 22,485 would be in HD and these HD channels are likely to grow at some 10% CAGR.
SES also stated that it was anticipating tapping into the growing demand for TV in developing and emerging markets, notably in the Asia-Pacific region, Latin America and Africa where Euroconsult is forecasting growth of more than 35% in the channel count between from 2016 to 2025.
