Reach all of Asia Pacific on ‘Hot-Beam’: Intelsat’s Latest MCPC Solution Delivers Unprecedented Coverage for Distribution to Cable and IPTV Platforms

Rob Cerbone, Vice President and General Manager, Media

For many international programmers, Asia Pacific can be a very dynamic, yet daunting region. For one it is geographically vast.  With countries ranging from China and Japan to Thailand and Singapore; India and Malaysia to Australia and New Zealand to the Pacific Islands–it is fair to say that no two countries communications infrastructure, viewer choices or content distribution needs are the same.

In order to meet the myriad demands of their customers in the region, international programmers need a simple, end to end solution that enables them to maximize reach and minimize cost.

Recognizing this need, Intelsat has merged two of its leading video neighborhoods in the region on Intelsat 17 and Intelsat 19 and formed ‘Hot Beam’, a new, C-band Multi-Channel Per Carrier (MCPC) solution covering an area stretching from Western Europe and Africa all the way to the most remote Pacific islands, encompassing the entire Asian continent in the middle.  This new MCPC solution provides programmers from around the world with a single distribution platform that delivers unprecedented regional coverage and the combined benefits of two of the regions premier video neighborhoods.  ‘Hot Beam’ will deliver programmers a simple, turn-key solution that provides immediate access to:

• Full geographic coverage from Western Europe and Africa to all of Asia and the Pacific Region accessible all at once with a single signal;
• A premium community of 375 channels, including 297 unique channels, from local and international origin, with high viewership in India and the rest of Asia;
• Billions of weekly TV household content impressions in India alone [source: BARC]
• Highly reliable distribution even in tropical climates thanks to C-band’s resistance to weather-induced signal degradation; and
• Unprecedented ability to launch new channels and test new markets in the region.

All the programmers have to do is hand off their signal: Intelsat and its partner EDM take care of everything else. Intelsat will provide multiplexing services at Encompass Digital Media’s (EDM) uplink facility in Singapore where Encompass will uplink to the Intelsat 17 and Intelsat 19 satellites.  The platform is set to support MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 compression technologies allowing programmers to cost-effectively transmit standard (SD), high definition (HD), or even ultra-high definition (UHD) content. Channels can be brought from anywhere around the world via Intelsat’s global satellite fleet and extensive IntelsatOne ground network.

Today’s viewers demand affordable, high quality, reliable content. They want content that is compelling, entertaining, enables them to connect to their home country when abroad, explore other parts of the world, and discover new cultures. ‘Hot Beam’ is an innovative solution that enables programmers around the world to meet the needs of hundreds of millions of viewers with a single, simple, cost-effective solution.   For more information, CommunicAsia attendees are invited to visit the Intelsat Booth located on Level 1, Hall B, Stand 1S3-01 in the Marina Bay Sands Convention Center beginning Tuesday, June 26 through Thursday, June 28.