(5 March 2007 2:30 pm)

MUMBAI: Intelsat has announced that UK-based View Africa and ViewAsia Networks have launched two regional platforms on the Intelsat system, expanding their program offering in Africa and Asia.

Through its multi-year contract on the Intelsat 7 and Intelsat 10 satellites, ViewAfrica Network is distributing a free-to-air programming bouquet that now reaches all the Sub-Saharan countries with specific DTH focus on South Africa and Nigeria, and ViewAsia is distributing its programming into the cable headends of Asia.

ViewAfrica Network, uplinking out of Telemedia in South Africa, carries a free-to-air bouquet of religious programming that currently includes the following networks: Daystar, LoveWorld, Divine Truth Broadcasting and Emmanuel TV. ViewAfrica is among 27 DTH platforms built on the global Intelsat system.

Intelsat 7 provides video, direct-to-home and telecommunications services throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Intelsat 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 on Intelsat 10 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, a company release says.