Comcast Media Center and SES Americom Form Joint Marketing Alliance

DENVER & PRINCETON, N.J., Aug. 11, 2005/Satnews Daily/ — SES Americom and Comcast Media Center (CMC) announced on Wednesday several joint marketing and services agreements to provide centralized solutions to support the cable industry's delivery of advanced services offerings, such as HD, VOD, and VoIP.

Under a joint marketing agreement, the two companies are developing a digital transport service that utilizes SES Americom's AMC-4 satellite to distribute digital formats of the most widely distributed cable channels to cable systems offering all-digital video services to their customers. The companies said these services, together with CMC's HITS (Headend In The Sky) digital overlay platform, provide operators with a total digital solution that minimizes the investment at the cable headend.

Earlier this spring the two companies combined forces to offer a comprehensive package of HDTV production, origination and transmission services. The HD joint offering, which utilizes SES Americom's HD-Prime, the industry's two-satellite HD cable neighborhood (AMC-10 and AMC-11 C-band satellites at 135 and 131 degrees west, respectively), is designed to foster the development of HD content for the rapidly growing HDTV market in the U.S.

SES Americom said the newest joint offering will combine the bandwidth of three satellites, AMC-4, AMC-10 and AMC-1, to form a versatile satellite resource for the offerings of the two companies. CMC will continue to support the industry with its content origination, transmission, headend authorization and 24/7 field support services.

Launched in 1999, the AMC-4 satellite is a Lockheed Martin A2100 hybrid C-band and Ku-band spacecraft located at 101 degree west longitude. When paired with AMC-1 at 103 degree west, AMC-4's C-band transponders offer a premier cable neighborhood that can be picked up on a single ground antenna. AMC-4's Ku-band transponders serve the broadcasting, VSAT, business television, and broadband Internet markets.

Launched in 2004, AMC-10 and AMC-11 are all C-band A2100 spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems. They're optimized for next-generation programming services, including high-definition channels. Each of the 24 transponders is supported by a 20 watt SSPA, delivering almost a 20% increase in power over their predecessors.

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