Astra 19.2°E is the name for the group ofAstracommunications satellitesco-located at the 19.2°East orbital position in theClarke Belt that are owned and operated bySES based inBetzdorf, Luxembourg.

Astra 19.2°E used to be commonly known as Astra 1, as it was the first orbital position used by Astra and the craft positioned there all have the Astra 1x name, but this was changed by SES to Astra 19.2°E in 2008, to avoid confusion with other Astra orbital positions that now include Astra 1x craft originally positioned at 19.2°East.

The Astra satellites at 19.2°East provide for servicesdownlinking in the 10.70 GHz-12.70 GHz range of theK_u band.

Astra 19.2°E is one of the major TV satellite positions serving Europe, transmitting over 1,150 TV, radio and interactive channels to more than 93 milliondirect-to-home (DTH) and cable homes in 35 countries^[1] (the other major satellite positions being at 13° East,28.2° East,23.5° East, and5° East).

There are more than 40high definition television (HDTV) channels broadcast by the satellites at 19.2°E, using five HDTV platforms.^[2] SES was instrumental in introducing satellite HDTV broadcasting in Europe, using the Astra 19.2°E satellites, and helped establish theHD ready specifications for TVs to view HDTV broadcasts. A subsidiary of SES,HD+ operates the HD+free-to-view platform of German channels from Astra 19.2°E.

Astra 19.2°E was one of the last satellite positions to carry numerousanalogue channels, until 30 April 2012 when the switch-off of German analogue broadcasts was completed.^[3] It is also the only position to have carried radio stations in the proprietaryAstra Digital Radio format, although that technology was superseded byDVB-S radio as the analoguetransponders that carried the service switched to digital.^[4]

• Astra 1M (launched 2008)^[5]
• Astra 1N (launched 2011)
• Astra 1P (launched 2024)

• Astra 1A (launched 1988, retired)
• Astra 1B (launched 1991, retired)
• Astra 1C (launched 1993, retired)
• Astra 1D (launched 1994, retired)
• Astra 1E (launched 1995, retired)
• Astra 1F (launched 1996, retired)
• Astra 1G (launched 1997, retired)
• Astra 1H (launched 1999, retired)
• Astra 1KR (launched 2006, occasional use)
• Astra 1L (launched 2007, occasional use)
• Astra 2B (launched 2000, retired)
• Astra 2C (launched 2001, retired)

• Astra 1Q (to be launched in 2027^[6])

The satellites at the Astra 19.2°E position primarily provide digital TV, digital radio and multimedia services to Europe and North Africa, principally toAlgeria,Austria,Belgium,France,Germany,Morocco, theNetherlands,Poland,Spain,Switzerland, andTunisia.^[2]

Astra 19.2°E provides bothfree-to-air and a number of pay-TV services in networks such asARD Digital, ArenaSat,CanalDigitaal,CanalSat,ORF Digital,Sky Germany,ProSieben,Movistar+,Sat.1,UPC Direct, andZDF,^[7] and is the market leader for DTH and communal dish reception in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland.^[2]

The relatively close proximity of Astra 19.2°E to one of SES' other orbital positions,Astra 23.5°E, allows the use in target countries of a single small dish fitted with amonoblockDuo LNB to receive channels from both positions.

As of December 2019^[update] the Astra satellites at 19.2° east broadcast on 147 transponders (2 Ka-band and 145 Ku-band) to 118.4 million households (44.7 million viacable, 27.5 million viaIPTV and 46.2 million direct to homesatellite dishes).^[8]

Launched in 1988,Astra 1A was the first satellite in the Astra 19.2°E group. With 16 transponders, Astra 1A was the first satellite intended for DTH reception of satellite TV across Europe. From the start of transmissions in 1989, Astra 1A carried four channels forSky Television, the world's first commercial multi-channel DTH service, on transponders leased before the satellite was completed.

Early channels broadcasting from 19.2°East included those primarily intended for the UK, Germany, the Benelux countries, and Scandinavia, and so-called pan-European channels such asMTV Europe,CNN International, andEurosport.

Astra 1A was joined at 19.2°East byAstra 1B in 1991 and subsequently byAstra 1C in 1993, establishing SES' principles of co-locating satellites for the provision of transparent backup by each satellite for the others in the group.

The first three satellites at Astra 19.2°E carried only analogue channels inPAL andD2-MAC. The fourth satellite,Astra 1D launched in 1994, was originally intended to carry the first Europeandigital TV channels but the rapid expansion of satellite television across Europe and demand for analogue TV capacity meant that it was primarily used for analogue signals.

Astra 1E (1995) was dedicated to digital satellite TV services for Europe and subsequent satellites launched to Astra 19.2°E were also all-digital in the traffic they carried.

Hand-in-hand with the switchover to digital transmission of TV by satellite came a shift to encryption and the targeting of channels to individual countries or regions. The demand for digital TV capacity was so great that SES opened up additional orbital positions to provide for new digital networks aimed at specific countries, starting withAstra 28.2°E for the UK and Ireland, in 1998. That became the home of Sky Digital, and the last Sky analogue channels left Astra 19.2°E in 2001.

Most Scandinavian broadcasters have migrated from Astra 19.2°E to 1°West andAstra 5°E, and SES has also opened orbital positions ofAstra 23.5°E andAstra 31.5°E to cope with the ever-increasing demands for digital capacity and the expanding markets of Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia that are now served byAstra satellites.

In November 2021, SES ordered two replacement satellites fromThales Alenia Space for launch to Astra 19.2°E in 2024 asAstra 1KR andAstra 1L reach the end of their planned life.Astra 1P will providedirect-to-home broadcast TV to Europe, in particular Germany, France and Spain. Astra 1Q is a reconfigurable software defined satellite with both wide beams for broadcast TV andhigh-throughput spot beams for video and data customers. Both new satellites should provide service well into the 2040s.^[9][10]

In June 2024, Astra 1P was successfully launched fromCape Canaveral on aFalcon 9 Block 5 rocket.^[11] Usingall-electric thrusters, the satellite took several months to reach geostationary orbit, and was first positioned at 9.5° West for testing, which was successfully completed in December 2024,^[12] and then moved to 19.2° East to begin service in early 2025.^[13] Starting in February 2025, all broadcast channels were moved offAstra 1KR andAstra 1L to Astra 1P in preparation for the older satellites' retirement, and Astra 1L was moved from the 19.2°E orbital slot to 19.4° East in March 2025.^[14][15]

• SES satellite operator
• Astra satellite family
• HD+
• Astra 28.2°E other SES orbital position
• Astra 23.5°E other SES orbital position
• Astra 5°E other SES orbital position
• Astra 31.5°E other SES orbital position
• Duo LNB

• SES Astra website
• official SES website
• SES fleet information and map
• SES guide to channels broadcasting on Astra satellitesArchived 12 April 2021 at theWayback Machine
• HD+ website
• Videobitrates of 19.2°E channels - daily measured
• Astra 1M Ku-band Wide Beamfootprint(s) at SatBeams
• Astra 1M Ku-band Europe Beamfootprint(s) at SatBeams
• Astra 1L Ku-band FSS Beamfootprint(s) at SatBeams
• Astra 1KR Ku-band Europe Beamfootprint(s) at SatBeams

• Communications satellite orbital positions
• SES (company)

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• Use British English from January 2014
• Articles containing potentially dated statements from December 2019
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