Astra 5°E is SES' position for direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasting to Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland, as well as Eastern European and Baltic countries including Belarus, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Russia, and Ukraine, and sub-Saharan Africa.
Over 460 TV, radio and interactive channels (including 9 high-definition television stations serve over 21 million direct-to-home, SMATV and cable homes via the 5°E position.
Cable distribution to head-ends, contribution links, data services, and broadband capacity are also provided Astra 4A provides DTH coverage to multiple African markets with a dedicated Ku band beam from a single orbital position, which eliminates the need for dual-illumination from separate beams.
[2] SES-5 provides two Ku-band beams for DTH services, one for the Nordic and Baltic countries and one serving Sub-Saharan Africa.
In 1994, Tele-X was joined by Sirius 1, bought by NSAB from BSkyB in 1993 after Sky Television's merger with British Satellite Broadcasting, and moved to 5°E from its original orbital position at 30°West as Marcopolo 1.
In 2008 Sirius 2 was moved to 31.5°E and renamed Astra 5A but in January 2009, the spacecraft suffered a failure and was withdrawn from service[5] some four years ahead of its expected end of life.