Global media company SPI International/Filmbox and Vienna-based Telekom Austria Group are extending and expanding their strategic agreement until 2022. With its "direct2home" platform Telekom Austria Group will remain the technical distribution and contribution provider for the FilmBox channels' Balkan and Central Eastern Europe (CEE) feeds, over the Eutelsat 16A satellite.

The agreement provides hundreds of thousands of customers in the region with content of various FilmBox channels. Both companies announced they are planning to extend the current channel line-up and add new channels in the future.

SPI/Filmbox, through its strategic partnership with Telekom Austria Group, distributes channels in Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia, Croatia and Slovenia. The channel bouquet is comprised of: FilmBox Plus, FilmBox Extra HD, Gametoon, FilmBox Art House, DocuBox HD, FightBox HD, Fast&FunBox HD, 360TuneBox HD, Erox HD and Eroxxx HD. The list of incumbent operators includes: Mobitel EAD (Bulgaria), ONE.VIP (Macedonia), A1 (Austria) and Vipnet (Slovenia).

The technical satellite distribution service offered by Telekom Austria Group to SPI/Filmbox is composed of video signal transport, encoding, encryption and uplink services, delivered by the Group´s earth station in Aflenz, Austria and its international backbone with more than 200 PoPs - arguably the largest fiber network in Europe. The Filmbox channels' TV signal is being distributed via the Eutelsat 16A satellite.

"Telekom Austria Group and SPI are two companies truly committed to delivering top quality television entertainment throughout Central and Eastern Europe" - said Berk Uziyel, SPI's executive director. "We are looking forward to adding new channels and strengthening our alliance with Telekom Austria Group in the years to come," Mr. Uziyel concluded.