IP-PRIME
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Canby Telcom opens can, out pops 36 HDTV channels in Oregon
For Canby Telecom customers located in (where else?) Canby, Oregon, today's a good day. The programming provider has just announced that you now have access to 36 high-def stations on its HD IPTV network, with over two dozen of 'em delivered to Canby via IP-PRIME. Among the new channels are Discovery HD, Disney HD, Showtime HD, Fox News HD, ESPN HD, A&E HD and Food Network HD, plus a handful of local broadcast services. There's no mention of cost or any of that, so here's hoping they're being beamed out for free (or mighty close to it).
NHL Network HD skates onto IP-PRIME IPTV
Okay, so maybe this deal is going down a little later than we would have liked (considering the NHL season is over and all), but there's always next year, right? Not quite two months after the NFL Network landed on IP-PRIME's IPTV network, NHL Network has followed suit. For hardcore fans using this service, you can look forward to blowout coverage of the NHL Entry Draft on June 20 - 21, and better still, 75 games during the 2008 - 2009 season will be broadcast in high-definition. The recently inked agreement ensures that each and every IP-PRIME operator in the United States will have access to the SD and HD feeds, and it sounds like the channel should be live as we speak.
NFL Network coming to IP-PRIME IPTV
IPTV providers relying on SES Americom's IP-PRIME service could soon have some excellent news for their customers, as the aforementioned firm has just landed a deal with NFL Network. Just days after announcing that it was bringing HD service to a solid dozen telcos, the outfit is now able to bring NFL Network to its customers. Interestingly, the release doesn't specifically mention carrying SD and / or HD feeds, but hopefully the latter will indeed be made available. It is noted that the station is now accessible by all IP-PRIME operators throughout the US, but each operator will still have to sign "individual carriage deals with NFL Network in order to offer the channel to their subscribers." Oh, goodie.
IP-PRIME adds HD service to 12 telephone companies
SES Americom (not letting one bad satellite get them down) has apparently found an even dozen takers for it's IP-PRIME HD-4 services, designed to add inexpensively MPEG-4 compressed HDTV to MPEG-2 IPTV providers. Not all of them were named, but Chibardun Telephone Cooperative in Wisconsin, Home Town Cable in Florida and Manti Telephone in Utah are among those soon to bask in the beauty of 32 HD including ESPN, Disney, Discovery, CNN, Fox News, MTV and others. So, if you get your TV from your phone company and haven't been getting HD yet, give them a call and see if a new set-top box in your future.
SES Americom releases HD-4 solution
SES Americom has released its IP-PRIME HD-4 solution to IPTV telcos who want to jump on the HDTV bandwagon. Providers that have invested in MPEG-2 infrastructure are looking for a way to upgrade to the more HD-friendly MPEG-4. Reworking the whole network is crazy-expensive, and that's where the HD-4 comes in. Dropping in some of these units on the headend will add a MPEG-4 "layer" on top of the MPEG-2, allowing the flow of HD goodness to end customers. There's no interruption to the MPEG-2 stream, and all the user needs is a new set-top box for the MPEG-4 stream. Here's to hoping this solution opens up more HD options to customers whose only options are smaller telco providers.
