Telespazio has renewed leases on two satellites operated by Eutelsat Communications for professional video contribution services and the outside broadcast purposes of RAI, the country's national public broadcaster. The renewal of this contract was announced in Rome on the occasion of the SATEXPO international conference and exhibition.

The two 72MHz transponders have been leased on a multi-year basis on Eutelsat's ATLANTIC BIRD 1 and W3A satellites. Both satellites provide superior coverage of Italy for domestic newsgathering requirements and support RAI's ongoing requirements for a constant flow of coverage of news, sports and special events in a footprint spanning Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

The permanent availability of this capacity gives RAI the full flexibility to manage short news items broadcast in Standard Digital, as well as premium events in HD that require 42 Mbps carriers.

It also guarantees RAI easy access as required to premium choice bandwidth with no notice.

Olivier Millies-Lacroix, Eutelsat Commercial Director commented on the contract: "We are delighted that Telespazio and RAI are renewing their confidence in Eutelsat with the extension of capacity on ATLANTIC BIRD 1 and W3A. Satellites are firmly anchored as a key platform for instant and quality coverage of news and sports events, providing both reach and bandwidth availability for efficient delivery of broadcast quality content. This forms a core video activity for Eutelsat and we are encouraged to even further improve our service by the trust placed in us by customers who are a hallmark for first-class performance."