Fashion TV's HD Service Chooses AsiaSat 2

Fashion TV's HD Service Chooses AsiaSat 2

PARIS and HONG KONG, February 11/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Asia's leading satellite operator, Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited (AsiaSat) and Fashion TV (FTV) today announced the signing of an agreement for C-band capacity on AsiaSat 2 to launch FTV HD, the new high definition channel by FTV, in Asia Pacific.

Broadcast of FTV HD has commenced on AsiaSat 2. Through AsiaSat 2's powerful coverage and excellent penetration, the channel is distributed to all major cable and satellite networks, and pay TV platforms across the region, providing Asian viewers access to exceptional picture and sound quality of new programming on fashion, beauty, lifestyle and luxury.

FTV has also chosen once again RRsat Global Communication Network Ltd., a provider of comprehensive content management and global distribution services to the television and radio broadcasting industries, to provide the advanced playout and uplink services for the FTV HD channel to AsiaSat 2.

"Following the successful launch of our HD service in Europe, we are delighted to work with AsiaSat, our long-term partner, to continue to roll out FTV HD in Asia. We have been using AsiaSat satellite for our Asian services since 1998, and AsiaSat has proved itself to be a highly valued satellite partner over the years. We are pleased to further extend our relationship through distributing both our high definition and standard definition channels on AsiaSat satellites," said Michel Adam, President and Founder of Fashion TV. "Taking the opportunity that many pay TV platforms in Asia are rapidly expanding their HD offerings as their differentiating feature, we have successfully concluded carriage arrangements with several major Asian platform operators prior to our official launch of service."

"We are very pleased to welcome FTV HD on board AsiaSat 2. FTV's extension of services on AsiaSat satellites has again demonstrated broadcaster confidence in AsiaSat to be the ideal satellite platform for distribution service in Asia Pacific. This new HD channel is an exciting addition to AsiaSat's HD service offering. We shall continue our efforts to grow our HD neighbourhood on AsiaSat to meet the fast growing demand from Asian TV platform operators for HD services in the region," said Peter Jackson, Chief Executive Officer of AsiaSat.

"RRsat is pleased to be once again chosen by its long standing partner, Fashion TV, to provide advanced playout and uplink services for its FTV HD channel. This is in addition to the playout and uplink services already provided for FTV SD channel via AsiaSat 3S. We are proud to be part of such a strong group comprising a major satellite organisation covering all of Asia, a high quality programming channel as well as an advanced technological playout and uplink service provider - namely AsiaSat, Fashion TV and RRsat," said David Rivel, Founder and CEO of RRsat.

FTV HD is now available free to air in MPEG-4 and DVB-S2 on AsiaSat 2 in C-band with the following reception parameters:

          Transponder: 5B      Frequency: 3794 MHz      Polarisation: Horizontal      Modulation: 8PSK      Symbol Rate: 4.64 Msym/sec      FEC: 3/5  

About Fashion TV

Fashion TV is the largest fashion medium in the world. FTV's mission since inception in 1997, is to innovate, show and follow the latest trends in fashion and audiovisual technology. Major shows from all over the world were brought live in High Definition with Fashion TV producing and broadcasting more than 20 fashion shows live in High Definition each season. The picture clear quality channel offers over 500 hours of new program content every year, 300 new shows and 600 new clips every season. Visit the company's website http://www.fashiontv.com for more information.

About AsiaSat 2

AsiaSat 2 operates at an orbital location of 100.5 degrees East. The satellite is a Lockheed Martin Series 7000 model and carries twenty 36 MHz and four 72 MHz C-band, as well as nine 54 MHz Ku-band linearised transponders. Its C-band footprint covers 53 countries spanning from Russia to New Zealand and from Japan to the Middle East and parts of Africa. It also has a high-power Ku beam serving the Greater China region, Korea and Japan. AsiaSat 2 currently serves many regional and international broadcasters, wholesale news agencies, video service providers, teleport service providers for video and news distribution and contribution services, as well as governments and corporations for VSAT network services.

About AsiaSat

AsiaSat, the leading regional satellite operator in Asia, serves over two-thirds of the world's population with its three satellites, AsiaSat 2 at 100.5degreesE, AsiaSat 3S at 105.5degreesE and AsiaSat 4 at 122degreesE. The AsiaSat satellite system provides services to both the broadcast and telecommunications industries. Some 300 television channels are now delivered by the company's satellites, reaching over 96 million households, with more than 360 million viewers across the Asia Pacific region. Many telecommunications customers use AsiaSat for services such as public telephone networks, private VSAT networks and high speed Internet and multimedia services. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Asia Satellite Telecommunications Holdings Limited, a company listed on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (SEHK: 1135). For more information, please visit http://www.asiasat.com

About RRsat Global Communications Network Ltd.

RRsat Global Communications Network Ltd. (NASDAQ: RRST) provides global, comprehensive, content management and distribution services to the rapidly expanding television and radio broadcasting industries. Through its proprietary "RRsat Global Network", composed of satellite and terrestrial fibre optic transmission capacity and the public Internet, RRsat is able to offer high-quality and flexible global distribution services for content providers. RRsat's comprehensive content management services include producing and playing out TV content as well as providing satellite newsgathering services (SNG). RRsat concurrently provide these services to more than 500 television and radio channels, covering more than 150 countries. Visit the company's website http://www.rrsat.com for more information.

Statements in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Reform Act provides a "safe harbour" for certain forward-looking statements so long as this information is identified as forward-looking and is accompanied by meaningful cautionary statements identifying important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the information. When used in this press release, the words "estimate", "plan", "project", "anticipate", "expect", "intend", "outlook", and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements and information. Actual results may differ materially from anticipated results as a result of certain risks and uncertainties which are more specifically set forth in AsiaSat's Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended 31st December, 2007 on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to (1) risks associated with technology, including delayed launches, launch failures and in-orbit failures, (2) regulatory risks, and (3) litigation and market risks. The foregoing list of important factors is not exclusive. Furthermore, AsiaSat operates in an industry sector where securities values may be volatile and may be influenced by economic and other factors beyond AsiaSat's control.

          Media inquiries:      Fashion TV     Yaron Jakubowicz, CEO     Email: yaron@ftv.com      Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited     Sabrina Cubbon, General Manager, Marketing      Tel: +852-2500-0899      Mobile: +852-9097-1210      Email: scubbon@asiasat.com      Winnie Pang, Manager, Corporate Affairs     Tel: +852-2500-0880     Email: wpang@asiasat.com  

Source: Fashion TV

Media inquiries: Fashion TV, Yaron Jakubowicz, CEO, Email: yaron@ftv.com; Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited, Sabrina Cubbon, General Manager, Marketing, Tel: +852-2500-0899, Mobile: +852-9097-1210, Email: scubbon@asiasat.com; Winnie Pang, Manager, Corporate Affairs, Tel: +852-2500-0880, Email: wpang@asiasat.com

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Profile: International Entertainment