SES Americom has launched a hybrid satellite/fiber-based service that will beam video programming to telcos and other types of IPTV service providers.

The service, called IP-PRIME, is a centralized system that will distribute both standard- and high-definition channels and programming. The company is basing IP-PRIME from Vernon Valley, N.J., where video and audio content will be received and processed for distribution via satellite and fiber landlines to IPTV service provider hubs around the country.

SES Americom said IP-PRIME will send encrypted programming to the telco’s video center, and offer support for a range of conditional access and middleware platforms for the final distribution to the IP set-tops.

The National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) has already inked a preliminary agreement to trial the service in early 2006. The NRTC serves rural and independent telcos that reach more than 10 million homes combined.

SES Americom has tapped Scientific-Atlanta (S-A) to support the project with 140 MPEG-4 encoders for the initial phase of the launch. SES Americom will also use S-A’s ROSA Network Management System to monitor and control equipment linked into the system. Globecomm Systems, meanwhile, will handle the overall design and integration.

“By transporting quality video over the most reliable and secure hybrid satellite/fiber distribution network in the world to authorized IP telco hubs, IP-PRIME arms phone companies of all sizes with the solution they need to cost-effectively deliver voice, broadband, and television over a single line to the home,” said Bryan McGuirk, president of North American media solutions for SES Americom.