British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) extends multi-year contract with increased SES capacity to deliver content to more serving military around the world

LUXEMBOURG -- (BUSINESS WIRE) --

Greater numbers of British forces and their families stationed abroad, including Royal Navy ships at sea, will receive a range of popular British TV and radio programming from the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) via SES satellites in a new multi-year agreement announced today by SES.

The increased capacity will enable BFBS to continue to deliver more popular British entertainment and sporting content across the globe, from Canada in the north-west and Falkland Islands in the south, across Europe and Africa and all the way to Brunei in the Far East. The service is an important part of making British forces and their families feel a little closer to home during deployments.

BFBS’s mix of popular news, sport and entertainment programming will be delivered via SES’s NSS-12 and SES-6 satellites. BFBS operates as part of SSVC (Services Sound and Vision Corporation), a not-for-profit charity, under a ten-year contract with the UK Ministry of Defence to supply welfare by radio and TV worldwide.

“Bringing the best of British TV and Radio to our armed services around the world has an incredibly positive impact on their morale and welfare, especially when they are separated from loved ones and home life for months on end,” said Ryan Lambert, Chief Technical Officer, BFBS. “It’s great that we can now deliver more content and more channels than ever before to our forces posted around the globe via SES.”

“Our partnership with SSVC spans many years,” said Ferdinand Kayser, CEO of SES Video. “This newest agreement extends our ability to improve the lives of British Forces by bringing them more of the creature comforts of home – wherever they are stationed, including ships in the South China Sea and Eastern Pacific. We feel privileged that we can help to improve the health and well-being of service personnel and their families through the unmatched reach and reliability of our global fleet, together with the unbeatable radio and television content available from BFBS.”

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About SES

SES is the world’s leading satellite operator with over 70 satellites in two different orbits, Geostationary Orbit (GEO) and Medium Earth Orbit (MEO). It provides a diverse range of customers with global video distribution and data connectivity services through two business units: SES Video and SES Networks. SES Video reaches over 351 million TV homes, through Direct-to-Home (DTH) platforms and cable, terrestrial, and IPTV networks globally. The SES Video portfolio includes MX1, a leading media service provider offering a full suite of innovative services for both linear and digital distribution, and the ASTRA satellite system, which has the largest DTH television reach in Europe. SES Networks provides global managed data services, connecting people in a variety of sectors including telecommunications, maritime, aeronautical, and energy, as well as governments and institutions across the world. The SES Networks portfolio includes GovSat, a 50/50 public-private partnership between SES and the Luxembourg government, and O3b, the only non-geostationary system delivering fibre-like broadband services today. Further information is available at: www.ses.com

About BFBS

BFBS is part of SSVC, a global, not-for-profit media organisation that informs, entertains, connects and champions the UK Armed Forces. Its TV, radio and digital services offer a long-established lifeline to our forces stationed overseas – and a highly valued entertainment and information hub to the wider military community here in the UK.

Forces Radio BFBS is on FM and DAB+ in the UK, on Sky 0211, Freesat 786, online at www.forces.net/radio via the free BFBS Radio app, and on FM across the forces world.

BFBS TV is a unique mix of the best of current British TV available to all entitled personnel worldwide. BBC One and ITV are alongside live sport from Sky and BT, with additional top-flight action on the bespoke BFBS Sport channel. Movie premieres, high-end drama and comedy are sourced from more than 40 UK broadcasters and worldwide distributors, and are available around the clock on BFBS Extra.