Astra 31.5°E is SES' newest satellite position, intended to develop the markets for direct-to-home (DTH) standard definition and high definition TV and radio broadcasting, interactive TV, cable contribution, and DTT and other terrestrial feeds in Eastern Europe and the Middle East – the latter not served by Astra satellites before.
Countries included within the intended market for this position, include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Iran, Jordan, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Tunisia, Turkey, and Ukraine.
[4] The second agreement was with Central European Media Enterprises (CME) which contracted a transponder on Astra 1G for distribution of services to cable head ends in Romania and Bulgaria, starting in January 2011.
[6] The first hint of SES' plan to develop the 31.5° east position as a new 'hot spot' for satellite TV came with the positioning of the ancient Australian satellite, Optus A3 (launched 1987) at 31.5° East (albeit in a 9° inclined orbit), carrying SES test transmissions in July 2006, to occupy the slot until Astra craft could be moved there.
Astra 5B was built by Astrium on the Eurostar E3000 platform for DTH, DTT and cable use in Eastern Europe,[13] and was due to be launched in the second quarter of 2013.
[15] but in November 2013 SES announced postponement until January 2014 because of delays with the Amazonas 4A craft that was to accompany Astra 5B in the launch rocket.