Satellite Boosts TV Operations In Ghana

A Satellite Monitor Study in five African countries have revealed that Ghana is the most promising African country that has the highest satellite penetration to aid television broadcasting to homes.

The other countries are Nigeria, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Uganda, who were all monitored between 2013 and 2017 in the Study, which was commissioned by SES satellite, the world-leading satellite operator.

SES satellite provides satellite communications services to broadcasters, content and internet service providers, mobile and fixed network operators, and governments and institutions.

The study on Ghana also revealed that satellite had grown rapidly in the country, becoming the leading television delivery mode, with 65 per cent of homes receiving TV channels via satellite.

Satellite is by far the largest contributor to Digital Television in the world.

The Study indicated that out of six million TV homes studied in Ghana in 2017, four million were directly reached by satellite, representing 83 per cent increase compared to 2015.

The remaining two million homes are fed by terrestrial networks, (a term used in reference to satellite technologies to distinguish between what is out in space and what is located on the earth's surface), representing a 40 per cent decline since 2015.

At the launch of the Study in Accra on Tuesday, Mr Theodore Asampong, General Manager of Platform Operations, local representative of SES, said Satellite monitoring study had gone on for over 20 years.

He said: 'The idea is to help our customers to get the idea of how many dishes in homes that are actually pointing to the satellites where content sits.

'If you are a pay TV customer, normally it is easy for you to know how many people are watching you because of the subscriptions, but if you are free to air broadcaster that is a channel, which does not have to collect subscription, it is difficult to quantify the homes that are watching you.

'Sometimes researchers do that; some of them use their diary and system to get ideas of who is watching a particular content, but this surveys actually give you a statistical number on how many homes are actually pointing to the satellite.

'And since we have been in the market for a long time, we started with Multi TV in 2009 and they have helped build neighbourhoods up to this point, and because of that more channels have come on board and we have 87 channels now, but it is good for these channels to know how many homes are really connected'.

Mr Asampong said the research was, therefore, to help advertisers to know that there was a neighbourhood where content or broadcasters could go and advertise and be sure that their target homes were watching.

Mr Clint Brown, the Vice President, Sales and Market Development for Africa, SES Video, said: 'The Satellite Monitor results for the Ghanaian market clearly illustrate the strong role of satellite broadcasting within the television infrastructure and SES as an enabler to bring digital TV to the highest number of homes in the country.'

"We are committed to boosting TV growth in the Ghanaian market as well as helping broadcasters and content programmers seize opportunities to gain more viewers.'

'Our extensive reach in the market along with our video end-to-end solutions will certainly contribute to achieving that goal.'