High Above (book)
| Author | Geoff Bains, Julian Clover, Chris Forrester, Jörn Krieger and Serge Siritzky |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Subject | The story of the creation and development of SES |
| Genre | Technology/History Non-fiction |
| Published | April 2010 Broadgate Publications |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 239 |
| ISBN |
High Above - The untold story of Astra, Europe’s leading satellite company is a book describing the development of the European satellite provider SES, published in 2010 on the occasion of the company’s 25th anniversary by Broadgate Publications in Richmond, UK.
It is a large “coffee table” style book (32 x 24cm) of 239 pages with hundreds of photographs.
High Above tells the story of SES, and how brave pioneers managed to overcome technical, political and commercial obstacles to become the world's leading satellite operator. It is the story of the Luxembourg-based satellite provider and the growth of European satellite TV, the history of recent developments of the European TV and media industry, and their context in the wider development of TV and space technology.
The story of High Above is of interest to anyone who watches TV. It covers a period that has seen the emergence of television as the dominant information and entertainment medium. The account shows how Astra was a main driver of European TV development, without which we would not have the necessary base ingredients to make the great leap forward into digital TV, HDTV, 3D television, and future revolutionary prospects for home entertainment.
But the story of satellite TV is more than a story of rockets and technology; it is the story of the birth of a whole array of new industries and the creation of hundreds of thousands of jobs. High Above is also a reflection of politics, 20th Century history, the Cold War and the collapse of Communism, the creation of Europe, economic growth and wealth, big brands, the Internet age and of technological convergence.
Space journalist, Gerhard Kowalski described High Above as “not only a eulogy to the TV pioneer … also a fact-rich and fascinating history of satellite television in general” while consumer technology website Tech Radar said the book “delivers a fascinating reminder of television’s early days as well as the technology behind the development of satellite TV”.
Using a series of interviews with key figures from the European satellite TV industry, as well as straightforward story-telling, High Above tells the inside account of how the tiny country of Luxembourg produced the company that established and then led the DTH satellite industry in Europe. With the commercial, technical and regulatory hurdles to overcome, it was a rough ride, both for Astra and for the broadcasters that now dominate the industry (BSkyB, Canal Plus, Premiere - now Sky Deutschland, etc.) – and the whole tale is told, the defeats as well as the victories.
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