RRsat was founded in Israel by David Rivel, an electronics, computers and communications engineer in 1981 as a communications provider, and in 2014 changed its name to RR Media to reflect its expanding global service offering. In 2015, RR Media acquired Eastern Space Systems (ESS), a Romanian provider of
content management and
content distribution services and satellite transmission services provider, SatLink Communications. Digital Playout Centre GmbH (DPC) was founded in 1996 by German media company,
Kirch to provide playout, multiplexing, satellite uplinks and other broadcast services to Kirch's Premiere pay-TV platform (now
Sky Deutschland) and other private and public German broadcasters. In 2005,
SES Astra (a subsidiary of
SES Global, now
SES) bought 100% of DPC from Premiere and the company renamed ASTRA Platform Services GmbH (APS). In 2012, to reflect the company's expanding worldwide reach, the name was changed to SES Platform Services. In February 2016, it was announced that SES Platform Services had agreed, subject to regulatory approvals, to purchase RR Media. The acquisition was completed in July 2016, with the merged company renamed MX1 and headed by Avi Cohen, the former CEO of RR Media. In October 2017, Cohen was replaced as CEO by Wilfred Urner, the former CEO of SES Platform Services, CEO of SES subsidiary,
HD+ and Head of Media Platforms and Product Development, SES Video. ==See also==