Spacecom has signed an agreement with a European company to provide satellite services for the new Ukrainian DTH platform Xtra TV.
The multi-year deal, which is valued at up to $19 million, will see the platform employ the Amos-3 satellite at 4 degrees West. According to Spacecom, Xtra TV will distribute almost 100 channels, some of which will be FTA. At present, Amos’ Ukrainian TV neighbourhood has close to 30 of the most popular channels including Inter, 1+1, ICTV, STB, New Channel, K1 and NTN.
As a result of the deal, Xtra TV will become the third European DTH service, and the fourth overall, on the Amos fleet at 4 degrees West, the othere being T-Home Sat TV (Hungary), Magio TV (Slovakia) and Yes (Israel).
Xtra TV, which is backed by the Istil Group, will made its debut shortly in a market already served by Viasat Ukraine and Russia’s NTV-Plus. A fourth platform, most probably a Ukrainian version of Russia’s Tricolor TV, is also expected to launch shortly.