Eutelsat Group announces that it has been selected by United Group, South-East Europe’s leading provider of telecommunications and media services, to consolidate its broadcasting activities at two of Eutelsat’s flagship video hotspots, to maximize audience reach over its footprint.

Following an RFI to satellite operators to optimize the efficiency of its operations, United Group awarded Eutelsat the contract for its entire DTH portfolio, thanks to the technical superiority of the proposed solution. Under the multi-year, multi-transponder deal, which will consolidate the totality of its broadcast activities on Eutelsat assets, United Group is renewing its commitment with incremental capacity to accommodate both existing and new television platforms that will be joining the Eutelsat video neighbourhood.

Eutelsat reaches 70% of satellite households in Central and Eastern Europe from its leading European video hotspots. By combining EUTELSAT HOTBIRD at the 13° East position, and EUTELSAT 16A at 16° East, United Group’s Total TV, Nova and Vivacom platforms can reach regional audiences at home and further afield in Greece, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia.

Zeljko Batistić, VP Technology of United Group, stated: “We are proud to be taking the high quality of our TV offering to a new level. This transition is crucial to maximise our audience reach across our market footprint, deliver an unrivalled content line-up and continue to develop our next generation services. We are delighted to partner with Eutelsat, who offers us the best and most compliant technical solution to meet our needs.”

Laurence Delpy, President of the Video Business Unit of Eutelsat Group added: “We are honoured that United Group, has placed its confidence in Eutelsat for this important strategic initiative, leveraging two of our leading video neighbourhoods, 16° East and HOTBIRD. As well as reinforcing our long-standing collaboration with one of our key customers in the region, this agreement showcases the ongoing relevance of satellite in addressing the evolving needs of our broadcast clients and confirms Eutelsat as the premier operator covering the region, reaching 7 out of 10 satellite homes.”

16° East is a leading video neighbourhood for Central and Eastern Europe, delivering around 600 TV channels, over 200 exclusively, and over 200 in High Definition, to over 25 million homes. High-power footprints support video broadcasting markets with extensive coverage of the CEE region, stretching across to western Europe to reach expatriate communities.

The HOTBIRD satellites at 13° East form EMEA's prime broadcast neighborhood for TV channels wanting to reach large audiences. Delivering over 900 TV channels, 50% in High Definition, in Europe alone it reaches 130 million homes, including almost all cable networks in the region.