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TNTSAT expands reach in France, going HD in February 2009
TNTSAT, a digital terrestrial free-TV offer via the ASTRA satellite system, has just found its way into 750,000 domiciles across the beautiful French countryside. For those unaware, the service targets regions where TVs cannot receive signals from terrestrial transmitters, and it offers viewers the "full range of French digital terrestrial free-TV channels over the ASTRA satellites, allowing a 100% coverage of France." But that's not all that's being announced today: TNTSAT HD is being launched on February 15, 2009 alongside the launch of free DTT channels in high-def being available on ASTRA; those eager to get a jump on things can expect around ten more SD / HD TNTSAT receivers to become available before the year's end. And to think, we heard that France wasn't exactly rushing to adopt HD back in May -- guess there's nothing like a little kick in the pants to get things going.
QVCHD launches on SES AMERICOM satellites
QVCHD joined in with the Cable Show announcements, unfortunately (or fortunately, for those hoping their already-packed coax lines add a network with actual programming) still carrier-less, but now available to cable providers via SES AMERICOM's HD-PRIME satellites.That's right, the AMC-11 bird is all set, ready to deliver trinkets of varying quality and worth to all of the households demanding the ability to shop armed with only TV & phone. We just died a little inside.
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.
DISH Network's AMC-14 satellite "a total loss"
Despite hopes to the contrary, it looks like SES AMERICOM is treating the AMC-14 satellite mishap like the time you rear-ended that bus full of nuns in your Suzuki X90. Stranded at a less than advantageous orbit after an anomaly in its second burn of the fourth stage on March 15, the company decided that trying to reposition it at this point was too risky, and would result in a severely shortened lifespan. As a result, SES is cashing in on a $150 million insurance policy, and coming out of this smelling like a rose. DISH Network has more satellites planned for later this year and claims the failure won't affect its plans, so HDTV owners shouldn't lose out badly either. The only real loser here is AMC-14 itself, destined to decades of floating around as space junk, or a quick and fiery end in Earth's atmosphere -- plans for its retirement are still being "explored".
DISH Network's AMC-14 satellite set for March 15 launch
Guess what, DirecTV subscribers? Your satellite provider isn't the only one launching a new bird into orbit next month. On March 15, the AMERICOM-14 (AMC-14) will blast off from Kazakhstan and begin its mission of providing DISH Network with "the bandwidth resources needed to increase the number of high-definition and other services offered by EchoStar nationwide." Of course, we've no idea how quickly customers will begin reaping the benefits from yet another sat in the sky, but we'll be a whole lot closer to knowing when this thing (hopefully) departs the atmosphere as planned.[Via SatelliteGuys, thanks Joe][Image courtesy of LaunchPhotography]
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.
