Orange selects Eutelsat's HOT BIRD™ and ATLANTIC BIRD™ 3

New agreement to enable all homes in France to benefit from the Orange triple play offer (telephone, Internet, TV) either via ADSL, or by satellite associated with ADSL for homes not eligible for TV via ADSL

PARIS — With the announcement at MIPTV 2008 in Cannes of the launch of Orange cinema series, Orange has confirmed its selection of two Eutelsat premium video neighbourhoods, HOT BIRD™ and ATLANTIC BIRD™ 3, to broadcast by satellite the TV component of its triple play offer (telephone, Internet, TV) in cases where it is not accessible via ADSL.

Broadcast from Eutelsat’s 13 degrees East and 5 degrees West neighbourhoods, this offer will be available to homes subscribing to an Orange triple play offer and equipped with a satellite dish for Direct-to-Home (DTH) reception. A new decoder interfacing with the livebox will enable the satellite-delivered Orange TV signal to be bundled with Internet access and telephony provided via an ADSL connection. The process will be transparent for users.

Satellite broadcasting of Orange TV’s programmes will be launched simultaneously in summer 2008 from Eutelsat’s HOT BIRD™ and ATLANTIC BIRD™ 3 satellites located at 13 degrees East and 5 degrees West respectively. In terms of the French market, these two neighbourhoods already reach an installed base of 4.8 million DTH antennas. As the long-standing position to which French homes located beyond range of terrestrial reception point their antennas for French analogue television channels, 5 degrees West will also give Orange TV the added benefit of very high penetration in rural areas.

Transmission of Orange TV programmes, including provision of satellite capacity and ground services, will be managed by GlobeCast, a subsidiary of France Telecom and one of Eutelsat’s major partners.