The Comcast Media Center has inked a new multi-year agreement with the National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC) that will give the latter’s nearly 1,000 cable operator members access to the CMC’s Hits portfolio of services.
Under the terms of the extended deal, NCTC members are eligible for competitive transport fees on classic Hits signals, as well as Hits Quantum SD and HD services.
Financial terms of the new agreement weren’t available.
“NCTC has worked with Hits to craft an agreement that benefits our members and serves their long-term business needs,” said Frank Hughes, senior vice president of programming at the NCTC. “We are pleased to continue offering our members Hits services that help them stay competitive in this rapidly changing business environment.”
The CMC said the new agreement streamlined the process for NCTC members that were seeking to launch value-added services such as HD. Members can sign up for all Hits linear services (Quantum Classic, Quantum SD and Quantum HD) included in the deal, via a single participation form available on the NCTC website.
“Our new agreement with NCTC builds upon a long-standing relationship that’s dedicated to meeting the digital video requirements of independently owned cable system operators,” said Leslie Russell, vice president and general manager for Hits. “The deal is designed to support NCTC members in reclaiming analog bandwidth and adding more HD channels to their lineups.”
Cable operators can use Hits Quantum SD to replace the analog channels with digital and reclaim bandwidth for HD or other advanced video and broadband services.