Satellite TV reception
equipment provider and pay TV operator Strong Media
SAL-Off-Shore (SMO) has taken additional satellite
capacity from Eutelsat on the Eutelsat 16A satellite to
launch a range of English, French and Arabic-speaking
television services over sub-Saharan Africa.
SMO plans to launch two new services Ma TELE,
targeted at French-speaking countries, and Shashatee, a
new Arabic-language pay TV service, in April, joining
the established My TV service that has been resized and
rebranded as My TV Smart, also broadcast from Eutelsat
16A.
Ma TELE will initially target subscribers in Côte dIvoire
and the Democratic Republic of Congo with an offer of
close to 30 channels, including its own flagship Africa-
specific channels and AB Sats BIS Africa service. It will
also air a line-up of unencrypted free-to-air channels.
Strong owns operations for distribution, technical
support and after-sales service in a number of Sub-
Saharan Africa countries, which it will use to promote
and sell the TV services.
We are excited to announce the launch of our new
services for Sub-Saharan Africa. We selected Eutelsat
16A for its solid video neighbourhood and significant
audience penetration in our target markets. We are more
than confident that our cooperation with Eutelsat will
bring the desired added value to the services we intend
to deploy over the region, said Samer Mourad, chief
operating officer of SMO.
Michel Azibert, chief commercial and development officer
at Eutelsat, said: Our 16° East neighbourhood is fast
ramping up to be a key point of reference for a diverse
range of African and international content. With Strongs
skills at assembling compelling digital content and
ensuring viewers get access to affordable and quality
consumer equipment we are well placed for a new phase
of growth. We look forward to collaborating with Strong
on accelerating access to digital entertainment in
Africa.