In December last year, SES HD PLUS Ghana used the whole month to celebrate the first anniversary of the advent of HD+ Decoder in the country. The climax of the celebration was a concert on the night of December 16, 2021, exactly one year from the day the HD+ service went live to deliver world class TV viewing experience to satellite homes in Ghana.
The concert, dubbed HD+ @1 Aha Ayɛdɛ, was held at the state-of-the-art Silicon House Production studios, a member of the K-NET Group, and was telecast live on a number of selected HD and HD+ channels.
The selected channels were – JoyPrime HD – channel 102; GHOne HD – channel 106; TV XYZ HD – channel 110; DGN HD – channel 112; KOOL TV HD – channel 113; TV HD – channel 114; 4SyteTV HD – channel 190 and also on the HD+ UHD 4K – channel 100 only available via MY HD PLUS app downloaded on compatible Samsung UHD/ QLED TVs.
The concert was also carried live on Facebook to allow many more Ghanaians at home and abroad to enjoy the quality entertainment associated with a quality brand like HD+.
The line up of artistes for the concert was one of the best the country – legendary gospel music group, Joyful Way Inc was on the bill. The female artistes on board were Empress Gifty Adorye, Adina, Sefa and Wendy Shay; while the guys comprised of hi-life crooner Kwabena Kwabena, smooth Afropop rising start, Mr. Drew, the versatile Fameye, king of freestyle, Amerado, and the kid on the block, Black Sheriff. Comedian OB Amponsah was also in the house to crack a few ribs.
As part of the anniversary, the company also gave a whopping 40% discount on the purchase of HD+ Decoders, while existing customers, who purchase a subscription during the anniversary month, also enjoyed the FeeliFeeli experience and received a selection of HD+ merchandise ranging from 2022 calendars, USB flash drives, polo shirts and many other gifts.
SES HD PLUS also introduced the Aljazeera news channel in HD for the first time in Africa ahead of the official launch in January 2022, plus additional kids channels, bringing the number of channels in HD to 19 on the Decoder. It is also collaborating with its broadcast partners to deliver engaging programmes in HD as well as UHD 4K picture quality to satellite homes during the festive season.
As a brand that cares about the communities in which it operates, SES HD PLUS also embarked on a charity donation to an orphanage in Accra as part of the first anniversary celebration.
Reason to celebrate
The company had every reason to celebrate because in just one year, more than 40,000 homes, and counting, in Ghana have welcomed the HD+ service because of the quality TV viewing experience that the service offers. Indeed, the arrival of HD+ has changed the conversation from a focus on only content to include quality of pictures (HD and UHD), quality with all players in the market striving to deliver their key channels in quality pictures. HD+ has given a boost to the taste of Ghanaians for quality pictures, and that is driving investment by channel owners into quality pictures and not just content.
SES/KNET pioneered it all
It would be recalled that back in 2009, SES through its partnership with KNET in Ghana launched the MultiTV platform, and that was what led to the proliferation of multi-channel television and radio nationwide.
Eleven years on, in June 2020, SES Satellite, a leading global satellite operator with a fleet of over 70 satellites, published its latest Satellite Monitor Results, which showed that, out of the estimated 6.7million TV homes in Ghana, 4.5 million are pointing to the 28.2 E orbital position. This explains why majority of homes in Ghana that hitherto had no access to TV reception are now connected.
There is evidence to show that not only are these homes connected, but a significant number of them are actually ready for more than just quality content; they also want the full great viewing experience, characterized by better quality pictures.
In 2019, IPSOS Ghana Limited, a marketing research company conducted a study in Ghana and found out that almost 50% of TV homes in Ghana had at least one HD-ready TV set. This means that over 2 million free-to-air homes already using MultiTV platform have an HD TV but are not able to enjoy their favourite shows in HD because of the limitation of being on an exclusive SD platform.
The results of that survey point to the fact that consumers are actually investing in technology to enhance their viewing experience but the free-to-air TV operators did not have that capability and capacity to meet the needs of such customers who were ready to pay for it. That is what gave birth to the HD+ concept, which promises and delivers high quality pictures and great viewing experience.
Clearly, the world is moving away from SD TV viewing and towards HD and UHD TV viewing. This is because TV in high definition (HD) quality delivers a better experience with regards to colour quality; widescreen viewing; detail and clarity; surround sound; and the ability to allow a variety of input devices to work together without taking a lot of furniture space.
SES HD PLUS therefore comes in to bridge that lingering quality picture gap and has been doing so over the past one year. It started with six HD channels and now has 19, including Aljazeera, which is available in HD for the first time in Africa only on the HD+ platform.
The company is also delivering the 1st UHD 4K free to air channel in Ghana and broadcasting the Euro 2020 for the first time on the African Continent on HD+ integrated Samsung TVs in partnership with Multimedia Group Ltd, Samsung, NAGRA and others.
Additionally, SES HD PLUS has also delivered the features that allow most free-to-air homes the control and convenience needed to enjoy world class TV viewing experiences such as a 7-day electronic programming guide, logical channel numbering system to ensure channel number consistency and ease of selection, parental access control, pause and reverse live TV and recording upcoming shows, the ability to extend your HD+ Decoder subscription to your phone via the My HD PLUS App whiles enjoying free data on your mobile or tablet.
Needless to say that HD+ is here and TV viewing in Ghana and Africa will never be the same again. The challenge is now for the various free-to-air channels to invest in their systems to ensure that the quality of the pictures they broadcast is compatible with the HD technology waiting to receive the content in people’s homes. The channels which fail to live up to expectation risk losing audience.
About SES HD PLUS
SES HD PLUS Ghana Limited is a subsidiary of SES, the leading global content connectivity solutions provider. SES HD PLUS Ghana was founded in December 2020 and promises to provide satellite homes with quality and affordable entertainment options by leveraging SES’s experience of delivering satellite TV channels directly to home (DTH) and its success of rolling out the HD+ subscription-based platform in Germany. The HD+ Product, offers up to 20 popular channels in high-definition quality (HD and Ultra HD 4K) in addition to over 100 free-to-air SD channels via the MultiTV satellite platform in Ghana. HD+ can be accessed either on the HD+ Decoder available for purchase at MultiTV Dealer outlets and Electroland stores nationwide or via the My HD PLUS App downloaded on QLED or UHD TV sets from Samsung. SES HD PLUS Ghana is collaborating with Adom TV, Joy Prime, GTV, GTV Sports+, UTV, Joy News, GhOne, Metro TV, TVXYZ, Citi TV, Angel TV, OneHD, BID TV, 4Syte, Kool TV, GNTV Junior, e.TV Ghana to deliver their content in high-definition quality. There are four subscription packages available: GHS7 for a week, GHS25 for a month, GHS60 for three months and an annual package that costs GHS210. HD+ is open to all broadcasters and looks forward to partnering with additional broadcasters who want to deliver their content in high-definition quality. Visit www.hd-plus.com.gh for further information.
