ProSiebenSat.1 Group and Unity Media Agree to Digital Cable Feed
Munich, January 13, 2006. The ProSiebenSat.1 Group has signed a contract with the Unity Media group for the broadcasting corporations programming to be fed via digital cable. Effective immediately, Sat.1, ProSieben, kabel eins, N24 and 9Live will be available on digital cable in North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse. All five channels will continue to be broadcast in analog format. Unity Media is an alliance among cable network operators ish, iesy and Tele Columbus.
The ProSiebenSat.1 Group is additionally planning to launch two digital pay channels, thus tapping a new line of business. It will put a new feature-film network and a new comedy network on air in the second quarter of this year.
To protect the broadcasting signal Unity Media shows digital programming with basic encryption. Viewers who receive Unity Medias digital programming will receive the ProSiebenSat.1 Groups digital programming automatically. Viewers that are not able to get digital TV yet only need a digital receiver and a smart card, which the cable operator activates for a one-time connection fee of EUR 19.95. There are no other charges.
Said Guillaume de Posch, Chief Executive Officer of ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG: The agreement with Unity Media is our first step into the digital future in cable. From our side it is also an effort to develop digital TV in Germany. The viewer benefits: He will receive additional programming and services even more conveniently than he does today. Im delighted that the lengthy negotiations with Unity Media have led to such a fruitful conclusion.
Said Unity Media Chief Executive Officer Parm Sandhu: This is yet another step in our strategy of cooperating with partners in the industry to advance the digitalization of cable. Digitalization can only be a success if the entire industry backs customers interests and offers higher-quality products and services. Thats exactly the aim of our agreement with ProSiebenSat.1.
Two Unity Media operators, ish in North Rhine-Westphalia, and iesy in Hesse, already have a broad range of digital programming. Viewers have a choice of more than 50 digital TV channels in German, and 24 in other languages.
About ProSiebenSat.1 Group
The ProSiebenSat.1 Group is Germanys leading commercial broadcaster. Sat.1, ProSieben, kabel eins, news channel N24 and quiz station 9Live, all 100 percent owned and controlled by the Company, form the only genuine family of television stations in the German market. The Group has headquarters in Munich and Berlin. Further information about ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG and its corporate affiliates can be found at www.ProSiebenSat1.com .
About Unity Media
Unity Media is the Holding Company of cable net operators iesy, ish and Tele Columbus. Ish and iesy are the largest providers in Hesse and North Rhine Westfalia . The companies also offer digital television, high speed Internet and telephony. On 30 September 2005 iesy and ish had approximately 5.2 million basic cable customers, 101,100 digital TV customers, 30,300 high speed Internet customers, and 11,500 telephone lines. Tele Columbus is the largest NL4 operator in Germany with approximately 2.6 million basic cable subscribers, 60,000 Digital TV subscribers, and 24,000 Internet subscribers. More information on Unity Media can be found at www.unitymedia.de
Contact:
Katja Pichler
Corporate spokesperson
ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG
Medienallee 7
D-85774 Unterfoehring
Phone +49 (89) 95 07-11 80
Fax +49 (89) 95 07-11 84
E-Mail:
Katja.Pichler@ProSiebenSat1.com
Contact Unity Media
Eva Krüger
Corporate Spokesperson
Phone +49 (0221) 37792 197
presse@unitymedia.de
www.unitymedia.de