SES S.A. reports that its HD offering HD+ has continued to grow successfully throughout the first two years of its market presence. The service currently reaches 1.9 million German TV households. These are the results of a market analysis conducted by the GfK Group in Germany.

Of the 482,000 customers who started the one-year free trial period with HD+ between 1st November 2009 and 31st October 2010, 305,000 have decided to continue their use of the offering for an annual service fee of EUR 50.

The conversion rate therefore stands at 63 percent.

As of today, an additional 1.56 million households are currently using HD+ in the free trial period and will have the opportunity to extend their use of the service on a paying basis in the next twelve months.

Based on the very positive development of HD+, SES expects to surpass the mark of one million paying customers by the end of next year.

HD+ is a technical platform operated by SES for encrypted broadcasting and reception of commercial free TV programmes in HD quality.

The HD+ offering includes RTL HD, SAT.1 HD, ProSieben HD, VOX HD, kabel eins HD, N24 HD, TELE 5 HD, SPORT1 HD, RTL II HD, sixx HD, Nickelodeon HD and Comedy Central HD.

Following a one year trial period free of charge, customers pay a fixed technical service fee of EUR 50 per year.

Wilfried Urner, CEO of the SES affiliate HD PLUS, says: "The German viewers have accepted HD+.

"The conversion rate of 63 percent from the free trial period into a paying mode remains as high as in the starting period and thus significantly exceeds our expectations. The high rate of acceptance began as a result of early-adopters, and now indicates that HD+ passes the test as a product for the mass market."