EUTELSAT and transponder leasing

This article looks at the Provisional European Telecommunications Satellite Organization's (EUTELSAT) role and policies in the field of transponder leasing for television programme distribution and discusses a number of specific issues which have assumed importance in the development of that role. Encryption of signals is considered in the context of crossborder overspill. The extent to which continuity of service can be offered, by freedom from preemption and/or the provision of back-up capacity for restoration, is discussed. The article then outlines the scope of the leased services offered by EUTELSAT and the development of an appropriate tariff structure for those services. Finally the case for selling, rather than leasing, transponders is examined.