The Comcast Media Center (CMC) will soon provide MPEG-4 transport as an option for its national video-on-demand (VOD) service.
The CMC expects to provide MPEG-4 video via SES Americom’s IP-Prime service, pending the execution of a definitive agreement involving the two companies. MPEG-4-encoded video should be available beginning in the fourth quarter.
“Extending our VOD capabilities to include MPEG-4 transport allows television programming networks and other content providers to reach their MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 distributors ‘All from The Center’,” said CMC’s SVP and COO Gary Traver.
IP-Prime is a turnkey IPTV solution that features 45 channels of HD plus another 260 channels of SD television. Service providers can offer the programming under their own brand. IP-Prime will add VOD services to the operators’ programming options in the fourth quarter of 2008.
The CMC’s MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 content management platforms provide cable programming networks and other content providers with a cost-effective solution for delivering VOD to their affiliates.
The CMC said that its MPEG-2 service currently delivers more than 8,000 VOD programming assets each month to millions of VOD-enabled households served by more than 20 of the country’s top cable MSOs.
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