Eutelsat UHDTV + roaming
THE CHANNEL
|
MEDIA MARKETS
Global satellite operator Eutelsat
is launching an Ultra High
Definition demonstration
channel for Southeast Asia and
Australia, based on Thomson
Video Networks’ award-winning
ViBE VS7000 multi-screen video
system and Sapphire MPEG
stream server. Broadcast via
Eutelsat's year-old EUTELSAT
70B satellite, the demo channel
will leverage the advanced high-
efficiency video coding
capabilities of the TVN solutions
to provide a rich UHDTV picture
at up to 50 frames per second
and in 10-bit colour. The ViBE
and Sapphire systems combine
to create a very simple and
affordable platform for
broadcasting a UHD channel —
as well as an ideal opportunity to
demonstrate the full power of
HEVC encoding for delivering
pristine UHD picture quality with
maximum bandwidth savings,
said Michel Chabrol, Eutelsat’s
Director Marketing Innovation.
Eutelsat has also entered into
a pioneering agreement with
ViaSat that will enable service
access and roaming on each
other’s high-capacity satellite
networks (KA-SAT for Eutelsat
and ViaSat-1 for ViaSat). Both
Ka-band networks, representing
well over half of all Ka-band
capacity on orbit worldwide,
share the same high-capacity
satellite ecosystem, enabled by
the ViaSat Broadband System,
along with other ground
SES has selected Airbus Defence
and Space to build a new hybrid
communications satellite, SES-
12, to serve the fast growing
DTH, data, mobility and
government markets in Asia, for
launch in Q4 2017. The new
satellite will expand SES’s
capabilities to provide direct-to-
home broadcasting, VSAT,
Mobility and High Throughput
Satellite (HTS) data connectivity
services in the Asia-Pacific
region, including rapidly growing
markets such as India and
Indonesia.
SES-12 will be positioned at
the well-established SES orbital
slot of 95 degrees East and will
replace SES’s existing NSS-6
satellite and be co-located with
SES-8. Today, SES serves close
to 20m DTH households in India
and Indochina from this orbital
slot.
The satellite is designed to
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ISSUE 2 2014
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THE CHANNEL
infrastructure owned and
operated by Eutelsat and ViaSat.
The resulting high-capacity
service area will span North
America, Europe and the
Mediterranean Basin.
The agreement includes
provisions for future satellites
and follow-on technologies as
they complement current
Eutelsat and ViaSat High Through-
put Satellites, including ViaSat-2
scheduled for launch in 2016.
Michel Azibert has succeeded
Jean-François Leprince-Ringuet
as Eutelsat Deputy CEO and
Chief Commercial and
Development Officer, taking
commercial and development
activities under his direct
responsibility.
SES DTH/HTS hybrid
for Asia in 2017
Arabsat
growth
ABS and Arab Satellite
Communication Organization
have signed a strategic
commercial agreement for a
multi-transponder lifetime Ku-
band payload on the new ABS-3A
satellite planned for launch in
late 2014/early 2015. The ABS-3A
satellite will be one of the
world’s first all-electric
propulsion satellites (a Boeing
702SP platform satellite) with
nearly 8 kW of EOL payload
power and up to a total of 48 C
and Ku-band transponders. It
will be located at 3° West and
will offer expanded capacity
connecting the Americas,
Europe, the Middle East and
Africa regions. Its wide C and
Ku-band coverage will serve both
sides of the Atlantic for
transatlantic as well as regional
connectivity and services.
The company also announced
that Spanish technology
business group GMV will provide
a complete Satellite Control
Center (SCC) for Arabsat’s
existing and upcoming fleet of
satellites.
Earlier in the year, Hellas-sat,
a majority owned subsidiary of
Arabsat, partnered with Inmarsat
to launch a joint satellite into 39°
E orbital location in 2016. One of
the satellite’s two missions will
be to carry a 44 Ku-band
transponders payload designated
‘Hellas-sat 3’ that will replace
the existing Hellas-sat 2 and
provide growth capacities to its
customers with diversified
footprints in EMEA.
operate for 15 years, with a
payload comprised of 68 high-
power physical Ku-band
transponders and 8 physical Ka-
band transponders. The spacecraft
will be equipped with an electric
plasma propulsion system for
orbit raising and on-orbit
manoeuvres. The payload of the
hybrid SES-12 satellite consists of
two distinct but complementary
missions: first, traditional wide
beam coverage, and second, a
high-powered Ku-band multi
spot beam payload (HTS).
Starting September 2014, SES
is providing a new digital TV
platform for West Africa on SES’s
ASTRA 2F satellite at 28.2
degrees East, in cooperation with
service provider Computer
Warehouse Group. This
independent TV platform in
Nigeria will be the country’s first
free-to-air DTH digital TV
platform, providing end-to-end
contribution, ground and space
services to local, regional,
national and international TV
broadcasters across West Africa.
