[SatNews] SES S.A. (NYSE Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG) announced today that its German HD platform HD+ continued to grow successfully in 2014, reaching more than three million households at the end of 2014. At 31 December 2014, 1.65 million households were paying for the service, an increase of 17 percent compared to the previous year (at 31 December 2013). Another 1.4 million households were in the free-trial period. 

HD+ offers a package of High Definition TV channels, providing an HD broadcast platform for 20 of the leading private broadcasters in Germany. In addition, HD+ users can receive over 30 other free-to-air channels in brilliant HD-quality. 

At the same time, the German market reach study “TV Monitor”, conducted annually by SES, showed that the number of HD satellite households in Germany exceeded, for the first time, the ten million mark. A further 6.6 million households watch HD via cable and one million via IPTV. The number of HD households therefore totaled 17.6 million, about 24 percent more than a year before (14.2 million). The total number of TV households in Germany reached 38 million. Reaching 18.2 million households, satellite remains the most important broadcast distribution.