Yesterday, satellite company SES announced that MX1, a wholly owned subsidiary of SES, will help pay-TV provider Sky launch free-to-air television in Germany and Austria, offering the Sky Sport News channel to viewers in these two markets. On December 1, the 24/7 high-definition (HD) sports news channel "Sky Sport News HD" began free-to-air broadcasting from satellite. In addition, Sky has contracted for additional SES satellite capacity to broadcast the channel in standard definition (SD). This gives Sky access to over 20 million households in Germany and Austria via the ASTRA satellite network. Global media services provider MX1 provides technical services, including uplink, signal encoding, and transmission via ASTRA 19.2° East longitude. "We are pleased to enter into an agreement with Sky. Free reception of Sky Sport News in HD and SD - considering the current state of German households - is an innovative solution, as the SD television standard still has great significance in Germany,” said Christoph Muehleib, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at SES and responsible for MX1 marketing in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. “By providing both signals, we are able to reach all households in Germany and Austria that receive television signals via satellite.” Stefan Kunz, Vice President of Broadcast Services at Sky Germany, stated: “Starting in December, Sky Sport News HD, the first and only 24-hour sports news channel on German television, will reach even more viewers via satellite, cable and IPTV. The launch of the first free-to-air television channel is an important step for Sky Germany, which we want to implement with the support of our long-standing satellite service provider, MX1.”