Turner Broadcasting System has chosen encoders from Cisco’s Scientific Atlanta operation to provide its content to other telecom companies in the MPEG-4 format.

SA said Turner Broadcasting will be the first U.S. linear programmer to provide its own MPEG-4 signal for Internet Protocol delivery of video content. The SA system also encodes MPEG-2, and can mix and match MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 signals in one transport stream, a necessary capability for several reasons.

First, many IPTV providers are using MPEG-4. Meanwhile, other video providers are only beginning to come to grips with MPEG-4 video, and of those who can handle MPEG-4 video, most will continue to have systems populated with set-top boxes that can handle only MPEG-2.

The advantage of streaming both together is that programmers can provide both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 content from the same transponder, using the same conditional access and network management system for simplified operations and a unified authorization procedure for individual customers.

Scientific Atlanta’s standard-definition MPEG-4 systems using its D9034 Encoders will be installed at Turner Broadcasting’s Techwood campus and CNN Center in Atlanta to provide signals for CNN, CNN Headline News, TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network and Turner Classic Movies.

Separately, SA said its MPEG-4 HDTV Advanced Compression Encoder (Model D9054) has been named an International CES Innovations 2007 Design and Engineering Awards Honoree by the Consumer Electronics Association. Products entered in this program are judged by a panel of independent industrial designers, engineers and members of the trade press to honor outstanding design and engineering in cutting-edge consumer electronics products.