Back in July, SES announced that multiple U.S. cable operators were testing 4K content with the SES fully managed Ultra HD platform. SES revealed on Wednesday that four more cable operators across the country have joined with trials set to begin later this year. The new agreements are with Marquette-Adams in Wisconsin, Buckeye Broadband in Ohio and southeast Michigan, Service Electric Cable TV in Pennsylvania, and enTouch Systems in Texas.
That brings the total operator count to eight that are currently assessing the satellite-based solution. The first wave of trials began this summer with Cable America in Missouri, Golden West Telecommunications in South Dakota, MTC Cable in New York, and Sjoberg’s Cable TV in Minnesota.
Steve Corda, VP of business development in North America for SES, says that the operators already participating in the trials have been impressed with the pre-packaged solution the company offers. “Ultra HD TV sales and demand for 4K content are both reaching unprecedented levels, and SES is leveraging the scalability and reliability of satellite to accelerate the delivery of Ultra HD to homes throughout North America,” Corda says. “SES has developed a fully managed Ultra HD platform capable of quenching the increasingly insatiable appetite for Ultra HD.”
The SES satellite-based solution uses either managed IP multicast DOCSIS 3.0 streams (vs. over-the-top internet connections) or traditional digital QAM transport streams. SES reports its goal is to fast-track small and medium tier cable operators’ ability to provide linear and live Ultra HD to subs, and points out its solution is delivered over dedicated bandwidth. That provides a much higher quality viewer experience compared to current internet-delivered 4K offerings that can suffer buffering and network congestion issues, according to SES.
Of course, subscribers will need 4K TV sets to access the content, but Danny White, director of product management at enTouch Systems says the operator’s customers are buying the TVs in anticipation of new viewing potentials. “enTouch is well positioned to provide game-changing 4K content quickly and cost-effectively to our customers across the Greater Houston area, thanks to our collaboration with SES and its breakthrough Ultra HD solution,” White notes.
Since the solution works over existing DOCSIS 3.0 cable networks and traditional digital QAM, that enables flexibility in how the Ultra HD content can be distributed in markets, Brad Mefferd, chief administrative officer at Buckeye Broadband, points out. “We will soon be testing a great mix of 4K movies, cutting-edge TV shows, news, and sporting event coverage from SES’s growing, satellite-based Ultra HD platform, with plans to deliver Ultra HD to subscriber homes on the horizon,” he adds.
