Winners Announced of the Prestigious HOT BIRD TV Awards 2010! / Thematic Channels From Across Europe, the Middle East and Africa Awarded for Highest Quality of Content and Innovation

PARIS, November 19, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The winners of this year's HOT BIRD(TM) TV Awards, the unique international event recognising the highest quality of content creation and innovation by thematic satellite television channels, were honoured on November 19 at a gala ceremony in Venice in the company of 250 international broadcasting executives.

"We congratulate the men and women generating the remarkable content awarded by the jury of this year's HOT BIRD(TM) TV Awards," said Michel de Rosen, Eutelsat CEO. "Over 150 thematic channels from Europe, the Middle East and Africa entered this year's event. This makes it the most significant and diverse to date, and underscores the extraordinary vitality of the satellite broadcasting market and its capacity to innovate."

Founded in 1998 by Eutelsat, in partnership with Eurovisioni and Satexpo, the Awards comprise 11 thematic categories: Music; News; Sports; Cinema; Children's; Lifestyle; National Window; HDTV; Documentaries; Fiction/Entertainment; Culture/Education. Following the success over previous years of the People's Choice, viewers had the opportunity to once again enter their favourite channel for this popular public Award.

Awards were also bestowed for the first time this year for Best Programme and Best New Channel launched over the last 12 months.

HOT BIRD(TM) TV AWARDS WINNERS 2010 CATEGORY CHANNEL COUNTRY HDTV Mezzo Live HD France Children's Yourfamily Germany Cinema Kino Polska Poland Culture/Education Nostalgia Russia Documentaries 365 Days TV Russia Fiction/Entertainment Ma Chaine Etudiante France Lifestyle Joint Winners: Gambero Rosso Channel Italy Information TV UK Music iConcerts Switzerland News/Information Joint Winners BBC World News UK Current Italy Sport Sky Sport Channels Italy National Window CCTV News China People's Choice TVN Warsawa Poland Best Programme Metro (RTR Planeta) Russia Special Mention: France The Battle for Afghanya Valley (France 24) Best New Channel SuperSport International South Africa

Red carpet highlights, clips of the nominated programmes and all the latest images from the night's events are at:

http://www.hotbirdtvawards.com/ The Jury

The members of the international jury of media experts of the HOT BIRD(TM) TV AWARDS are:

Jerzy Barski, TV-Sat Magazine (Poland), Jacques Braun, Eurodata TV (France), Paolo Dalla Chiara, Sat Expo (Italy), Giovanna Maggioni, Upa (Italy), Asu Maro, Milliyet Sanat e Milliyet Daily (Turkey), Giacomo Mazzone, Eurovisioni (Europe), Mimi Turner, Hollywood Reporter (Europe), Michel Gregoire, EGTA (Europe)

Jury coordinator: Duilio Giammaria, Rai (Itay). Technical expert: Mauro Roffi, Mille Canali (Italy).

Eutelsat Communications

With capacity commercialised on 26 satellites providing coverage of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India and significant parts of Asia and the Americas, Eutelsat is one of the world's leading satellite operators. At 30 June 2010, Eutelsat's satellites were broadcasting almost 3,700 television channels and 1,100 radio stations. More than 1,100 channels broadcast via its HOT BIRD(TM) video neighbourhood at 13 degrees East, with other neighbourhoods serving broadcasting markets in central and eastern Europe, Turkey, the Middle East and Africa,. The Group also provides TV contribution services, data services and broadband solutions on ground, at sea and in flight.

http://www.eutelsat.com/ SAT Expo

SAT Expo Europe is the international event dedicated to the aerospace industry, its services and applications and integrated telecommunications. Held annually in Rome, it houses an exhibition area, which comprises representatives of the industries, applications and services of the four aerospace macro areas (Earth observation, navigation, exploration and space transportation, integrated telecommunications) and three days of conferences (Mediterranean Space Conference), dedicated to the aerospace market and its internationalisation. SAT Expo Europe enjoys the patronage of the Presidency of the Italian Republic and the scientific collaboration of ESA and ASI.

http://www.satexpo.it/ Eurovisioni

Eurovisioni, the International Festival of Cinema and Television, was created in 1987 and is now in its 24th edition. Eurovisioni 2010 (from 19 to 22 of September) received the patronage of the Italian President, Giorgio Napolitano, UNESCO, the Council of Europe, the Presidency of Italy's Council of Ministers, the Italian Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, and others. The initiative includes support from Eutelsat, RAI, the Lazio Region, the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, SACEM, Sky Italia, Canal +, ARD, BBC, France Televisions, RTVE, TVP, ZDF.

http://www.eurovisioni.it/

Eutelsat Communications

CONTACT: Press Contacts: HOT BIRD(TM) TV Awards: Eutelsat: Vanessa
O'Connor - Tel. [phone] - [e-mail]; Promospace: Giorgio
Bonomi - Tel. [phone] - [e-mail]; HOT BIRD(TM) TV
Awards team: Promospace - Tel. [phone] - e-mail: [e-mail]