SES AMERICOM launches IP PRIME HD-4 for telcos planning HD services

December 4, 2007 – SES AMERICOM has announced the availability of IP-PRIME HD4, an MPEG-4 high-definition TV service for US telcos already delivering IPTV using MPEG-2 technology, which the company claims can deliver 32 HD channels within 60 days.

The IP-PRIME service offers telcos a complete, easy-to-deploy, managed solution, with video channels transported from the SES AMERICOM IPTV Broadcast Center in Vernon Valley, New Jersey to the headend at the central office and then on to subscribers.  The new HD4 service adds an MPEG-4 service layer on top of an existing MPEG-2 deployment, where the bandwidth to the home does not permit the delivery of HD signals in the less efficient MPEG-2 format.  IP-PRIME is working with set-top box (STB) firm Entone to deliver a new STB to end subscribers that can decode both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 signals.

“SES AMERICOM has heard from dozens of MPEG-2 system operators across the country who feel competitive pressure to change their infrastructures so they can offer HDTV,” said Walt Davis, IP-PRIME Product Manager at SES AMERICOM.  “Some of these operators are smaller telcos that invested heavily in their MPEG-2 systems and cannot afford a wholesale change.  Because HDTV is driving new subscribers, these systems are faced with either losing subscribers to competitors or investing money beyond their means.  HD-4 solves this dilemma by giving these operators a third option which is not only faster and less expensive, but also allows operators to continuously scale their HDTV offering with the growth in available HDTV programming.”