Paris, Rome – Eutelsat Communications and Telespazio, a Leonardo-Finmeccanica (67%) and Thales (33%) joint venture, a global broadcast service provider, are strengthening their longstanding strategic partnership with a new agreement that sets the stage for the growth of higher resolution video channels at Eutelsat’s HOTBIRD video neighbourhood.

In addition to pursuing transmissions of Standard Digital platforms (in DVB-S, DVB-S2), Telespazio is committed to accelerating the move to High Definition and Ultra HD from the HOTBIRD video neighbourhood that is the point of reference for multi-channel broadcasting in Italy and provides unparalleled coverage across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

Luigi Pasquali, Telespazio CEO, said: “Providing services to large and medium-sized broadcasters is one of Telespazio’s core business lines. For over two decades we have favoured from our teleports the HOTBIRD satellites for their footprint and the audience they deliver as well as their reliability and capacity to scale up to HD and Ultra HD. In addition to covering advanced renewals, the new agreement with Eutelsat confirms our commitment to drive continued growth of HOTBIRD-based services.

Rodolphe Belmer, Eutelsat CEO, added: “Telespazio is a longstanding partner with extensive experience in serving a diversified array of broadcast clients. This expertise will add new impetus to the growth of HD and Ultra HD channels in Italy and across the broad footprint of the HOTBIRD satellites that are a pillar of our video activity.”