Super Channel boosts UK penetration

NBC Super Channel this week launched on the Astra 1D satellite in a move that will increase its UK penetration significantly and allow the company to launch other channels in Europe.

The channel is available in 62.6 million European households via cable and direct transmission to home via the Eutelsat satellite.

The Astra 1D deal, struck at Christmas, is likely to increase the channel’s direct to home penetration by seven to ten per cent, NBC Super Channel maintains. The company stresses it remains committed to broadcasting via Eutelsat.

NBC Super Channel head of sales Peter Bullard says the move is a significant step towards NBC’s long-term ambition to establish a global presence. "The aim is to have channels around the world with an identifiable profile, and understood brand," he explains.

"We will share news and information. As the sun rises and sets, anywhere, NBC will follow through the day with a service that’s much more than a diet of current share prices."

NBC Super Channel this month increases its news and current affairs output by 25 per cent with the launch of a major new business programming strand, European Money Wheel, produced by Financial Times Television.

But it will also face new competition from BBC World – one of two new pan-European channels launched by the BBC and Pearson on January 26, and European Business News which launches in February.