Eutelsat Communications Locks Up Multi-Year Contract With Spain’s Telefonica

Eutelsat Communications has secured a multi-year capacity contract at its flagship HotBird neighborhood with Spain’s telecommunications operator, Telefonica.

Telefonica has selected Eutelsat’s key orbital position at 13° East to broadcast RTVE free-to-air content consisting of two HD channels: TVE Internacional Europa, the world’s farthest-reaching Spanish general interest channel, and the news channel, 24 Horas, as well as six RNE (Radio Nacional de España)radio stations.

“We are proud to have been selected by Telefonica to broadcast the content of a major public broadcaster on HotBird,” says Philippe Oliva, Eutelsat’s Chief Commercial Officer. “This demonstrates both the benefit of satellite as a broadcast infrastructure and the attractiveness of HOTBIRD as a key neighbourhood across Europe and the MENA region.”

RTVE will shortly benefit from the unrivalled audience of this hotspot covering Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. These channels were previously distributed on the 19.2°East orbital position.

“Thanks to this partnership with Eutelsat, we are delighted that Spanish and Hispanic households across Europe will soon be able to enjoy a rich offer of video and radio content from both TVE and RNE,” says Francisco Panduro, EMEA Sales Manager, Telefonica Audio-visual Services.