SES has signed agreements with the Association of Ethiopian Broadcasters (AEB) and the Ethiopian Broadcasting Cooperation (EBC) to create a dedicated Ethiopian TV environment
In particular, the AEB agreement will see the most popular Ethiopian TV channels migrate to a new TV neighbourhood hosted by SES’s NSS-12 satellite at 57° East.
SES stated that Ethiopia currently has more than four million TV households that access television service via satellite.
The AEB 14 members, comprising private broadcasters EBS, Fana Broadcasting, Walta TV, Arts TV, Afrihealth, OBS, LTV, Kana, JTV, DWTV, Asham TV, Ahadu TV, Ministry of Education and Nahoo TV, represent more than 50 per cent of Ethiopian viewership and will be able to foster advertising markets that will enhance the development of the country’s free-to-air (FTA) market.
The public and regional channels including ETV News, ETV Entertainment, ETV Languages, OBN TV, Tigray TV, South TV and Amhara TV, led by the public service broadcaster EBC, will also be distributed through this Ethiopian-dedicated TV neighbourhood. The Ethiopian content will be broadcast mainly in high definition (HD) via NSS-12.
Given that 16mn homes in Ethiopia do not have TV service, the consolidation of broadcasting Ethiopian-only content to the people offers strong potential growth in the local media sector.
In addition to satellite capacity and video services such as content transportation and management, SES also will provide on-the-ground services to ensure the success of the new neighbourhood. Local SES team will train local installers to correctly repoint each TV household’s satellite dishes, making migration possible.
Amman Fissehazion, chairman of AEB, said, “We are at a critical juncture in Ethiopia. We want to harness the momentum for change and create a truly Ethiopian TV neighbourhood that will deliver local content to viewers in high quality, and fuel growth in the Ethiopian media sector.”
Belete Esubalew Gemberie, deputy CEO and Media Technology Cluster Head of EBC, added, “We are excited for our channels to be part of an Ethiopian-only TV bouquet that is broadcast on SES’s East Africa video platform on NSS-12 at 57 degrees East.”
