PanAmSat Lands My TV DTH Platform in Africa; Fleet Total Jumps to More Than 20 Worldwide

PanAmSat Lands My TV DTH Platform in Africa; Fleet Total Jumps to More Than 20 Worldwide

Strong Technologies Chooses PanAmSat for Launch of My TV in Sub Sahara Africa

WILTON, Conn., March 22 /PRNewswire/ -- PanAmSat (NYSE:PA) announced today that it had signed a multi-year agreement with Strong Technologies l.l.c. of Dubai for programming distribution on its PAS-10 Indian Ocean Region satellite. The multinational company will utilize the Ku-band payload on this powerful spacecraft to establish My TV, a Direct-to-Home (DTH) platform in sub-Sahara Africa. This is the latest addition to the more than 20 DTH platforms worldwide that operate on the PanAmSat fleet.

"PanAmSat is the clear-cut winner in worldwide program distribution, transmitting nearly 2000 television channels. The addition of the MyTV DTH platform strengthens our position as the number-one distributor of DTH platforms in Africa," said Mike Antonovich, EVP, Global Sales and Marketing, PanAmSat. "Since the launch of our first satellite in Africa in 1995, the first private satellite company to do it, PanAmSat has provided the satellite capacity that provides world-class solutions for our video distribution, data networking and Internet services customers across the continent. Delivering this new DTH platform reaffirms our commitment to our customers and their consumers across Africa."

My TV, which recently was awarded a DTH Television Broadcast License by the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission, will include in its channel lineup at launch: BBC World, Eureka! (for six-year-olds to pre-teens), Baby TV, Trace TV, MCM Top, Adventure 1, Fashion TV in addition to six additional channels which will be added over the coming months including sports, movies, children and music programming. The channels will be uplinked from Stellar in Germany and will use the Conax CAS7 conditional access and encryption system. The satellite reception hardware available at launch is the Strong SRT 4642 and SRT 4652 which is widely available through Strong's regional distribution network headquartered in Abuja, Nigeria.

"Strong has been looking for opportunities to expand its operational base from hardware and call centre management into new and expanding markets that its products and services have yet to reach. Nigeria and sub-Sahara provide an opportunity for an economically priced DTH service for the millions of TV households. PanAmSat's PAS-10 was the ideal satellite to help us achieve our goal across that region," said John Tydeman, the COO of the new venture for Strong Technologies. More details of MyTV can be found at http://www.mytvafrica.tv/.

PanAmSat transmits more than 500 DTH television and audio channels worldwide and is the only satellite operator that provides DTH services on five continents. Its satellites serve as platforms for current and future planned DTH television services in the Pacific Ocean region (PAS-2 and PAS-8), the Americas (Galaxy 10R, PAS-6B and PAS-9), the Indian Ocean region (PAS-10) and Africa (PAS-7). In addition to My TV, PanAmSat's DTH customers include: ABS-CBN, Arab Radio & Television (ART), Botswana TV, CBN (Sri Lanka), CCTV, DIRECTV, GlobeCast Australia, Multichoice, SelecTV, Sentech, Sky Latin America, Sky Mexico and TVB.

PAS-10's Ku-band payload contains multiple high-powered beams focused on Africa, Europe, India, the Middle East, Central and Western Asia as well as Northeast Asia. The beams of this versatile satellite can be switched between the various regions, offering greater flexibility in the creation of new platforms for the delivery of video, data and IP-based services.

About Strong Technologies l.l.c.

Strong Technologies l.l.c., of Dubai, was set up in 1996 as part of the Strong & Co. (Far East), Ltd. group of companies, of Yokohama, Japan. The parent company was founded in 1868 and was the first-ever foreign organization to be licensed to operate in Japan. The group's activities are diverse and include manufacturing and distribution of products ranging from perfume to carbon fiber sports products, from oil supply equipment to fabrics, from motors to satellite TV receiving equipment and content. Strong Technologies l.l.c. was established as a regional office to cover the Middle & Near Easts, Africa, Australia and parts of Asia, handling the satellite TV receiving equipment distribution activities for the group. For more information http://www.strong-technologies.com/

About PanAmSat

Through its owned and operated fleet of 23 satellites, PanAmSat (NYSE:PA) is a leading global provider of video, broadcasting and network distribution and delivery services. It transmits nearly 2,000 television channels worldwide and, as such, is the leading carrier of standard and high-definition signals. In total, the Company's in-orbit fleet is capable of reaching over 98 percent of the world's population through cable television systems, broadcast affiliates, direct-to-home operators, Internet service providers and telecommunications companies. In addition, PanAmSat supports the largest concentration of satellite-based business networks in the U.S., as well as specialized communications services in remote areas throughout the world. For more information, visit the Company's Web site at http://www.panamsat.com/.

Source: PanAmSat

CONTACT: Kathryn Lancioni of PanAmSat, +1-203-210-8000

Web site: http://www.mytvafrica.tv/
http://www.panamsat.com/
http://www.strong-technologies.com/

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