MUMBAI: Asiasat has announced that it is providing back up facilities and services to Rupert Murdoch's broadcaster Star at its new Tai Po earth station in Hong Kong.

As per the terms of the agreement, Asiasat will provide facilities to house Star's back up broadcast and RF equipment for downlinking and emergency uplinking to AsiaSat 3S and other related services. A company release informs that Asiasat's Tai Po earth station is a new facility.

The station is built on a site comprising a 52,743 sq.ft. two-level building and five antennae. The station is designed for tracking and monitoring Asiasat's satellites as well as for providing additional value-added services to AsiaSat's customers such as C-band and Ku-band traffic uplinking and back up services.

Star's COO Steve Askew adds, "Asiasat has been a reliable partner for Star since our launch more than a decade ago. This agreement further expands our existing collaboration in ensuring total reliability and quality control in the playout and broadcast of our services to viewers across the region."

Asiasat claims to serve over two-thirds of the world's population with its satellites. Over 120 analogue and digital television channels and 90 radio channels are now delivered by its satellites, reaching over 80 million households, with more than 300 million viewers across the Asia Pacific region.