SES Launches New UHD HDR Demo Channel, Moves to Acquire Remaining Ob Stake

It's been a busy couple of days for SES at its annual Industry Days event this week in Luxembourg, as the satellite giant announced the launch of a new 24/7 Ultra HD test channel for transmitting High Dynamic Range (HDR) content. The company also announced plans to acquire of the remaining shares in O3b Networks for $710 million (via capital raising to fund the acquisition). SES also utilized the opportunity at Industry Days (May 26-27) to demonstrate its SAT>IP technology for OTT streaming and to announce that The Philippines' largest cable operator (Sky Cable) will use SES-9 and NSS-11 satellites to complement their existing TV offerings.

SES Launches UHD HDR Demo Channel

For the ninth edition of Industry Days, SES, together with industry partners, will present and demonstrate several technologies for enhancing the quality of Ultra HD television with High Dynamic Range. This feature will be key for next generation Ultra HD picture quality, as HDR provides much higher contrast and offers a more realistic viewing experience. Delegates of the event will be able to witness HDR implementations such as HDR 10, Dolby Vision, Hybrid Log Gamma and the Technicolor/Philips solution on state-of-the-art flat screens of major manufacturers.

As the broadcasting industry is in discussions to establish a standard for HDR transmission, the goal of SES's HDR demo channel is to allow industry partners to test the various technology candidates. At the moment the channel carries Ultra HD content provided by LG Electronics, with a backwards compatible HDR technology called Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG). HLG HDR content will be demoed on LG's E6 4K OLED TV.

High Dynamic Range will be a major improvement for satellite delivered Ultra HD television, says Thomas Wrede, VP Reception Systems at SES. As industry and operators now face the challenge of standardising and implementing a plethora of technology candidates, we intend to support the process with our test channel. At the same time, we have started to implement relevant HDR technology at our Munich playout facility.

In addition the UHD HDR, SES is also demonstrating how live television can be brought to all the major media player platforms via satellite, as SES's industry partners are showcasing live satellite-delivered television brought to the latest 4th generation Apple TV, Amazon FireTV 4K and various devices running the Google Android TV operating system, using SAT>IP technology. SAT>IP is an architecture for receiving and distributing satellite signals via IP. These demonstrations leverage the work that SES and partners have already done to develop SAT>IP technology, which has now become a real enabler for these devices.

To date most media players do not provide the breadth of live television choice that satellite delivers. By combining SAT>IP with digital media players, these devices now get access to high quality live TV. Additionally, satellite TV benefits from the attractive interface and viewing experience enabled by the powerful software platforms that run on these players.

SAT>IP was conceived right from the start as an enabling technology for next generation satellite TV experiences, says Wrede. With these demos, we will concretely show how this vision can change the experience of satellite-delivered television again.

SES Moves to Acquire 100% of O3b Networks

SES has completed the capital raising to fund the acquisition of the remaining shares in O3b Networks, a next generation satellite operator with a constellation of 12 High Throughput Satellites (HTS) at Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) that delivers a unique, global fibre in the sky' connectivity solution with ultra-low latency. Plans for capital funding were first announced on May 26. The total gross proceeds from the capital raising amounts to EUR 908.8 million. SES will use the proceeds raised to fund the total consideration of USD 730 million to increase its ownership of O3b to 100%. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals which are expected to be completed during H2 2016. SES will also use around USD 300 million to repay O3b's most expensive debt facilities, leading to a reduction in annual financing costs after initially covering any repayment charges.

SES will issue 39,857,600 million new Fiduciary Depositary Receipts (FDRs) at a price of EUR 19.0. The number of new FDRs represents 11.6% of the existing number of total Class A shares. The Private Placement ( The Placement ) is part of a capital increase in which the existing Class B shareholders (Banque et Caisse d'Epargne de l'Etat, Soci t Nationale de Cr dit et d'Investissement and Etat du Grand-Duch de Luxembourg) have agreed to subscribe for 19,928,800 newly-issued Class B shares, pro rata to their existing holding of Class B shares, as is necessary to maintain the ratio of 1:2 with the Class A shares, as provided in SES's articles of association.

These new shares will rank pari passu with the existing A-shares and B-shares. Class B shares have 40% of the economic rights of Class A shares. As a result of the capital raising, the total number of shares will increase from 515.40 million to 575.19 million, and the total number of economic shares will increase from 412.32 million to 460.15 million.

The settlement-delivery and the admission of the new FDRs on Euronext Paris and the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (on the same line as SES's existing shares, ISIN Code: LU0088087324) is expected to take place on 31 May 2016. A Listing Prospectus is expected to be approved by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) in advance of settlement.

Acquisition of 100% of O3b expands SES's global network and solutions, by further incorporating O3b's unique, low latency satellite constellation, which is already in operation. The deal also augments SES's dif

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