A major reason for the usage of Astra 23.5°E as a source for direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasting is its proximity to Europe's primary DTH position, Astra 19.2°E, allowing the use in target countries of a single small dish fitted with a monoblock Duo LNB to receive channels from both positions.
While the satellite Astra 3B can reach most parts of the continent, this position is primarily used for channels broadcast to the countries of Northwestern, Central and Eastern Europe, in particular: Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, and Slovakia.
A service of local, regional and ethnic channels for Italy is expected from this orbital position following an agreement in November 2009 between SES and Milano Teleport to offer capacity to Italian broadcasters.
[1] TV channels for (DTH) networks, Canal Digitaal (Netherlands), TV Vlaanderen (Belgium, Flanders), CS Link (Slovakia and Czech Republic), Skylink (Slovakia and Czech Republic) and Satellite BG (Bulgaria), broadcast from this position.
[2] In January 2011 Astra announced that Bulgarian DTH operator Satellite BG would use three transponders on Astra 3B at 23.5°E for broadcasting a package of more than 60 standard definition channels and 12 high definition channels, including sports, film, factual and children's TV, and all major Bulgarian public and commercial services to TV homes across Bulgaria.
[3] Astra 23.5°E was the home of Euro1080, Europe's first full-time commercial HDTV broadcaster since January 1, 2004, until they moved their channels to Eutelsat W3A (7° east) in late 2008.
[15] On February 1, 2012 Kabel Deutschland ceased to use the Astra 23.5°E position for distribution, switching to its terrestrial fibre network.