EchoStar Communications plans to launch a service that will provide up to 300 channels via satellite to telcos, private and rural cable operators, municipalities, and providers serving master-planned communities.
These other providers are responsible only for obtaining distribution rights – no small consideration.
EchoStar is calling the IPTV service ViP-TV. The company is describing it as a turnkey solution for wholesale multichannel content transport and distribution, offering scalable and aggregated MPEG-4 IP encapsulated radio and television programming.
ViP-TV’s suite of channels includes ViP-Premier, which offers more than 100 channels of television programming; ViP-HD, which has 40 channels of HD programming; ViP-Movies, a menu of 40 movie services; ViP-Latino, with 30 Spanish-language programming services, and ViP-International, with more than 30 programming channels in 10 different languages.
In a separate statement after announcing the service, the company said ViP-TV includes what it’s calling a “push and pull” video-on-demand (VOD) service.
The VOD content for ViP-TV is based on EchoStar’s existing VOD service, which is currently offered to DISH Network satellite TV subscribers.
