HD+ increases number of paying households to 634,000

LUXEMBOURG — SES S.A. (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG) announced today that the number of paying households using the HD+ service offered by its German affiliate HD PLUS has increased significantly. The HDTV platform attracted over 120,000 new paying households between April and June 2012, the most paying households HD+ has ever acquired in one quarter. At 30 June 2012, HD+ counted 634,290 paying households. Year-on-year, the number of households paying for HD+ has more than tripled (30 June 2011: 198,020).

In total, two million households were using HD+ during the individual 12-month free trial period at 30 June 2012. This is an increase of 700,000 on the previous year. The number of active HD+ households – paying households and households using it during the free trial period – was 2.6 million as at 30 June 2012, almost 1.2 million more that in the previous year. HD+ is a platform for the reception of unencrypted free-to-air and encrypted HD channels in Germany.

Wilfried Urner, CEO of HD PLUS: “Growth has uninterruptedly continued, and viewers remain very positive with regard to HD+. HDTV with HD+ via ASTRA offers by far the best price and performance ratio. Given the excellent performance in the first half, we assume that HD+ will reach one million paying households before 31 December 2012.”

HD+ key figures: 2nd quarter 2012 compared with the previous year

                                     30.06.2012  30.06.2011      Change
                                     ----------  ----------  ----------
Active HD+ households(1)              2,622,153   1,460,218  +1,161,935
 HD+ users in free trial period(2)    1,987,863   1,262,198    +725,665
 HD+ paying households(3)               634,290     198,020    +436,270
HD+ receiver models                          87          61         +26

HD+ key figures: 2nd quarter 2012 compared with 1st quarter 2012

                                     30.06.2012  31.03.2012      Change
                                     ----------  ----------  ----------
Active HD+ households(1)              2,622,153   2,620,699      +1,454
 HD+ users in free trial period(2)    1,987,863   2,107,492    -119,629
 HD+ paying households(3)               634,290     513,207    +121,083
HD+ receiver models                          87          80          +7

1. Households that currently receive HD+ programmes.
2. Households in the 12 month free trial period.
3. Households which have paid the annual service fee of EUR 50.

Source: data are based on analyses by GfK, reporting by HD PLUS GmbH and by partners.

Editor’s notes: The lineup of HD+ currently includes 14 encrypted commercial services (RTL HD, Sat.1 HD, ProSieben HD, VOX HD, kabel eins HD, RTL II HD, SUPER RTL HD, N24 HD, TELE 5 HD, SPORT1 HD, DMAX HD, Nickelodeon HD, sixx HD, and COMEDY CENTRAL HD) as well as 19 unencrypted free-to-air HD channels, mainly from the public broadcasters.