Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) has renewed capacity on the equivalent of nearly seven transponders with satellite fleet operator SES under a multiyear contract, Luxembourg-based SES announced Oct. 12.
Under the contract, whose financial details and exact duration were not announced, TBS will lease five transponders on the SES AMC-3 satellite for satellite newsgathering and CNN distribution in the United States and Canada. These leases will migrate to the SES-2 satellite once that spacecraft is declared operational at 87 degrees west in November. SES-2 was launched Sept. 22.
In addition to this capacity, TBS is leasing nine megahertz of bandwidth on the SES-owned NSS-7 satellite at 338 degrees east (22 degrees west), and more than 36 megahertz aboard two SES Astra satellites over Europe, at 19.2 degrees east and 28.2 degrees east.
