Astra 19.2°E

Astra 19.2°E is the name for the group of communications satellites co-located at the 19.2°East orbital position in the Clarke Belt that are owned and operated by SES Astra, a subsidiary of SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg.

Astra 19.2°E used to be commonly known as Astra 1, as it was the first orbital position used by Astra and the craft positioned there all have the Astra 1x name, but this was changed by SES Astra to Astra 19.2°E in 2008, to avoid confusion with other Astra orbital positions that now include Astra 1x craft originally positioned at 19.2°East.

The Astra satellites at 19.2°East provide for services downlinking in the 10.70GHz-12.70GHz range of the Ku-band.

Astra 19.2°E is one of the major TV satellite positions serving Europe, transmitting over 1,150 TV, radio and interactive channels to more than 93 million direct-to-home (DTH) and cable homes in 35 countries [SES ASTRA “19.2°East” (August, 2007). Company factsheet] (the other major satellite positions being at 13° East, 28.2° East, 23.5° East, and 5° East).

There are more than 40 high definition television (HDTV) channels broadcast by the satellites at 19.2°E, using five HDTV platforms. SES Astra was instrumental in introducing satellite HDTV broadcasting in Europe, using the Astra 19.2°E satellites, and helped establish the HD Ready specifications for TVs to view HDTV broadcasts.

The position has the highest concentration of Ku band analogue channels still broadcasting, with in excess of 40 (mostly German language) services remaining. It is also the only position to have ever carried radio stations in the proprietary Astra Digital Radio format, although that technology has been largely superseded by DVB-S radio as the analogue transponders that carried the service switch to digital. [" [http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/archive_uk/260805.html Dedicated DVB-S radio transponder from ARD] " "Broadband TV News" (April 26, 2005) Retrieved on September 28, 2008]

atellite craft in use

Current

*Astra 1F
*Astra 1G
*Astra 1H
*Astra 1KR
*Astra 1L

Previous

*Astra 1A (retired)
*Astra 1B (retired)
*Astra 1C (moved to Astra 5°E)
*Astra 1D (moved to Astra 31.5°E)
*Astra 1E (moved to Astra 23.5°E)
*Astra 2C (moved to Astra 28.2°E)

Market

The satellites at the Astra 19.2°E position primarily provide digital TV, digital radio and multimedia services to Europe and North Africa, principally to Algeria, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Morocco, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, and Tunisia.cite web |url= http://www.ses-astra.com/business/en/satellite-fleet/19-2E/index.php |title=19.2°E |publisher= SES ASTRA |accessmonthday= September 30 |accessyear=2008 ]

Astra 19.2°E provides both free-to-air and a number of pay-TV services in networks such as ARD Digital, ArenaSat, Canal Digitaal Satelliet, CanalSat, Digital+, ORF Digital, Premiere, ProSiebenSat.1, UPC Direct, and ZDF [cite web |url= http://www.lyngsat.com/astra19.html |title=Astra 1F/1G/1H/1KR/1L at 19.2°E |publisher= LyngSat | accessmonthday= September 29 |accessyear=2008] , and is the market leader for DTH and communal dish reception in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland.

The relatively close proximity of Astra 19.2°E to one of SES Astra’s other orbital positions, Astra 23.5°E, allows the use in target countries of a single small dish fitted with a monoblock Duo LNB to receive channels from both positions.

History

Launched in 1988, Astra 1A was the first satellite in the Astra 19.2°E group. With 16 transponders, Astra 1A was the first satellite intended for DTH reception of satellite TV across Europe. From the start of transmissions in 1989, Astra 1A carried four channels for Sky Television, the world's first commercial multi-channel DTH service, on transponders leased before the satellite was completed.

Early channels broadcasting from 19.2°East included those primarily intended for the UK, Germany, the Benelux countries, and Scandinavia, and so-called pan-European channels such as MTV, CNN International, and Super Channel.

Astra 1A was joined at 19.2°East by Astra 1B in 1991 and subsequently by Astra 1C in 1993, establishing SES Astra’s principles of co-locating satellites for the provision of transparent backup by each satellite for the others in the group.

The first three satellites at Astra 19.2°E carried only analogue channels in PAL and D2-MAC. The fourth satellite, Astra 1D launched in 1994, was originally intended to carry the first European digital TV channels but the rapid expansion of satellite television across Europe and demand for analogue TV capacity meant that it was primarily used for analogue signals.

Astra 1E (1995) was dedicated to digital satellite TV services for Europe and subsequent satellites launched to Astra 19.2°E were also all-digital in the traffic they carried.

Hand-in-hand with the switchover to digital transmission of TV by satellite came a shift to encryption and the targeting of channels to individual countries or regions. The demand for digital TV capacity was so great that SES Astra opened up additional orbital positions to provide for new digital networks aimed at specific countries, starting with Astra 28.2°E for the UK and Ireland, in 1998. That became the home of Sky Digital, and the last Sky analogue channels left Astra 19.2°E in 2001.

Most Scandinavian broadcasters have migrated from Astra 19.2°E to 1°West and Astra 5°E, and SES Astra has also opened orbital positions of Astra 23.5°E and Astra 31.5°E to cope with the ever-increasing demands for digital capacity and the expanding markets of Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia that are now served by SES Astra.

References

ee Also

*SES Astra satellite owner
*Astra 28.2°E other SES Astra orbital position
*Astra 23.5°E other SES Astra orbital position
*Astra 5°E other SES Astra orbital position
*Astra 31.5°E other SES Astra orbital position
*Duo LNB

External Links

* [http://www.ses-astra.com/consumer/en/how-to-receive-astra/index.php guide to receiving Astra satellites]
* [http://www.ses-astra.com/consumer/en/channel-guide/index.php guide to channels broadcasting on Astra satellites]
* [http://www.ses-astra.com/business/uk/satellite-fleet/interactive-fleet-map/index.php interactive Astra fleet map]
* [http://www.ses-astra.com SES Astra website]
* [http://www.ses-astra.com/business/en/hdtv/index.php SES Astra HDTV website]