Astra 19.2°E

Astra 19.2°E is the name for the group of Astra communications satellites co-located at the 19.2°East orbital position in the Clarke Belt that are owned and operated by SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg.

Astra 19.2°E used to be commonly known as Astra 1, as it was the first orbital position used by Astra and the craft positioned there all have the Astra 1x name, but this was changed by SES to Astra 19.2°E in 2008, to avoid confusion with other Astra orbital positions that now include Astra 1x craft originally positioned at 19.2°East.

The Astra satellites at 19.2°East provide for services downlinking in the 10.70 GHz-12.70 GHz range of the K_u band.

Astra 19.2°E is one of the major TV satellite positions serving Europe, transmitting over 1,150 TV, radio and interactive channels to more than 93 million

There are more than 40 high definition television (HDTV) channels broadcast by the satellites at 19.2°E, using five HDTV platforms.^[2] SES was instrumental in introducing satellite HDTV broadcasting in Europe, using the Astra 19.2°E satellites, and helped establish the HD ready specifications for TVs to view HDTV broadcasts. A subsidiary of SES, HD+ operates the HD+ free-to-view platform of German channels from Astra 19.2°E.

Astra 19.2°E was one of the last satellite positions to carry numerous analogue channels, until 30 April 2012 when the switch-off of German analogue broadcasts was completed.^[3] It is also the only position to have carried radio stations in the proprietary Astra Digital Radio format, although that technology was superseded by DVB-S radio as the analogue transponders that carried the service switched to digital.^[4]

Satellites in use

Current

• Astra 1KR (launched 2006)
• Astra 1L (launched 2007)
• Astra 1M^[5] (launched 2008)
• Astra 1N (launched 2011)

Previous

• Astra 1A (launched 1988, retired)
• Astra 1B (launched 1991, retired)
• Astra 1C (launched 1993, retired)
• Astra 1D (launched 1994, retired)
• Astra 1E (launched 1995, retired)
• Astra 1F (launched 1996, retired)
• Astra 1G (launched 1997, retired)
• Astra 1H (launched 1999, retired)
• Astra 2B (launched 2000, retired)
• Astra 2C (launched 2001)

Upcoming

• Astra 1P (to be launched in 2024, also known as SES-24)
• Astra 1Q (to be launched in 2026,^[6] also known as SES-25)

Market

The satellites at the Astra 19.2°E position primarily provide digital TV, digital radio and multimedia services to Europe and North Africa, principally to Algeria, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Morocco, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, and Tunisia.^[2]

Astra 19.2°E provides both

The relatively close proximity of Astra 19.2°E to one of SES' other orbital positions, Astra 23.5°E, allows the use in target countries of a single small dish fitted with a monoblock Duo LNB to receive channels from both positions.

Capacity and reach

As of December 2019^[update] the Astra satellites at 19.2° east broadcast on 147 transponders (2 Ka-band and 145 Ku-band) to 118.4 million households (44.7 million via

Launched in 1988, Astra 1A was the first satellite in the Astra 19.2°E group. With 16 transponders, Astra 1A was the first satellite intended for DTH reception of satellite TV across Europe. From the start of transmissions in 1989, Astra 1A carried four channels for Sky Television, the world's first commercial multi-channel DTH service, on transponders leased before the satellite was completed.

Early channels broadcasting from 19.2°East included those primarily intended for the UK, Germany, the Benelux countries, and Scandinavia, and so-called pan-European channels such as

Astra 1A was joined at 19.2°East by Astra 1B in 1991 and subsequently by Astra 1C in 1993, establishing SES' principles of co-locating satellites for the provision of transparent backup by each satellite for the others in the group.

The first three satellites at Astra 19.2°E carried only analogue channels in

Astra 1E (1995) was dedicated to digital satellite TV services for Europe and subsequent satellites launched to Astra 19.2°E were also all-digital in the traffic they carried.

Hand-in-hand with the switchover to digital transmission of TV by satellite came a shift to encryption and the targeting of channels to individual countries or regions. The demand for digital TV capacity was so great that SES opened up additional orbital positions to provide for new digital networks aimed at specific countries, starting with Astra 28.2°E for the UK and Ireland, in 1998. That became the home of Sky Digital, and the last Sky analogue channels left Astra 19.2°E in 2001.

Most Scandinavian broadcasters have migrated from Astra 19.2°E to 1°West and

In November 2021, SES ordered two replacement satellites from

• SES satellite operator
• Astra satellite family
• HD+
• Astra 28.2°E other SES orbital position
• Astra 23.5°E other SES orbital position
• Astra 5°E other SES orbital position
• Astra 31.5°E other SES orbital position
• Duo LNB

References

External links

• SES Astra website
• official SES website
• SES fleet information and map
• SES guide to channels broadcasting on Astra satellites Archived 12 April 2021 at the Wayback Machine
• HD+ website
• Videobitrates of 19.2°E channels - daily measured
• Astra 1M Ku-band Wide Beam footprint(s) at SatBeams
• Astra 1M Ku-band Europe Beam footprint(s) at SatBeams
• Astra 1L Ku-band FSS Beam footprint(s) at SatBeams
• Astra 1KR Ku-band Europe Beam footprint(s) at SatBeams