[Satnews] Thaicom announces their THAICOM 7 satellite is now fully booked, following an order from Grant Investrade Ltd. (GIL).
Artistic rendition of the THAICOM-7 satellite.
The subsidiary of Hinduja Ventures Ltd., part of the global Hinduja Group, confirmed the order for the C-band transponders on the satellite, which that company will use to provide digital cable TV services through a Headend-In-The-Sky (HITS) system. The HITS service—branded ‘NXT DIGITAL’—will help the distribution fraternity smoothly transition to digital and allow customers to choose channels through a satellite multiplex across India.
The technology program manager for ‘NXT DIGITAL’ is Castle Media which has set up several world class operations in broadcasting and digital networks in India and overseas. Castle Media has been tasked with the design-to-delivery of the HITS service including setting up a state-of-the-art next generation broadcast facility and a robust back-end facility for SMS, CRM, Billing, CAS and other mission critical components and services.
Executive Comments
“It is one of India’s national missions to roll out Digital Addressable Systems (DAS) of broadcasting all over the country and we believe ‘NXT DIGITAL’ is a significant step towards this goal,” said Tony D’Silva, Managing Director at GIL.
“This latest deal is particularly exciting for Thaicom as it marks an important milestone for us not only in regards to THAICOM 7 now being 100 percent booked as well as bringing our platform for content distribution to India, which sets us in good stead for the launch of THAICOM 8,” said Thaicom’s CEO Paiboon Panuwattanawong.
“THAICOM 7 being a recently launched satellite exhibits strong parameters to facilitate a high-quality digital HITS service in India. We’ll continue to work closely with Thaicom to upscale our transponder requirements as our business grows over the next few years, on the back of a strong push by the government to make India a digital nation,” said Vynsley Fernandes, Executive Director at Castle Media.