MUMBAI: China Central Television (CCTV) has signed a multi-year expansion agreement with PanAmSat for the distribution of its premium programming to Western Africa. The new contract enables CCTV to expand the geographic reach of its programming to millions more viewers around the world.

"CCTV is an international broadcasting powerhouse, reaching viewers worldwide via five PanAmSat satellites. As PanAmSat has grown, so has our relationship with CCTV," PanAmSat Asia Pacific V-P David Ball said. "We look forward to continuing our support of CCTV's global expansion and growth with our highly reliable and technologically advanced fleet."

CCTV has been a PanAmSat customer since the launch of the company's PAS-2 satellite in 1994. PanAmSat currently provides full-time program distribution services for CCTV via the Company's PAS-1R Atlantic Ocean Region satellite, PAS-8 Pacific Ocean Region satellite, PAS-9 Atlantic Ocean Region satellite and PAS-10 Indian Ocean Region satellites.

PanAmSat also provides CCTV with capacity on its Galaxy 3C satellite for direct-to-home (DTH) services in the United States. CCTV uses PanAmSat's teleports in Napa, California and Atlanta, Georgia for satellite downlinks, standard conversions, multiplexing and satellite uplinks. This new agreement is for capacity on the Ku-band payload of the PAS-1R satellite.

"PanAmSat's global fleet has enabled us to deliver our programming beyond China to viewers around the world," CCTV V-P He Zong Jiu said. "As PanAmSat has expanded its global services, we have been able to utilize the greater power and coverage for the efficient and economical distribution of our global programming."