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Satellite operator SES Global is to meet the UK's growing demand for digital capacity by shifting the orbital position of one of its 41 satellites. In a wide-ranging interview with The Guardian, SES Global CEO Romain Bausch said SES's UK digital satellite was "practically fully booked", necessitating the planned orbital switch in 2006.

Bausch predicted a combination of BSkyB's free satellite service, high definition television and the increasing popularity of interactive services would help the UK Government achieve analogue switch-off by its newly declared target date of 2012.

"It will depend on successes like this satellite free-TV initiative by BSkyB. It will depend on the additional services broadcasters like the BBC and ITV will have on satellite and it will depend on the timing of the roll-out of high definition TV. All of these are initiatives that will further incentivise viewers to go for satellite reception because these services will not be available terrestrially and probably won't be available on cable," said Bausch.

Bausch disclosed that SES persuaded BSkyB in the mid-1990s not to insist on a veto on other broadcasters using its Astra satellite. The platform remained open.

"We convinced BSkyB that direct access to satellite capacity for whoever wanted to target the UK market would be in the best interests not only of SES but also of BSkyB. In all of these difficult moments with Ofcom and with other regulators, at no time has there been any discussion about the fact that BSkyB would have been perceived as the gatekeeper to satellite capacity," explained Bausch.