SES AMERICOM (News - Alert) and Canby Telcom announced today that IPTV customers of the later can access 36 channels of High Definition (HD) programming, including channels delivered to Canby via IP-PRIME, from marquee programmers such as Discovery, Disney, Showtime, Fox News, ESPN (News - Alert), A&E and the Food Network, plus a handful of local broadcast services.

 

Via a single satellite antenna, the IP-PRIME HD-4 service delivers up to 40 national high-definition channels to operators. In addition to the HD-4 offering, the IP-PRIME full transport solution offers programming channels to operators without the high capital and operating expenses required to build and operate an IPTV (News - Alert) headend.

 

Keith Galitz, president and general manager of Canby Telcom, said, “We are committed to bringing our customers the latest information, communications and entertainment services to enhance their personal and professional lives. In November 2005, Canby became the first provider of IP television in Oregon, and with HD-4, we are the first to deliver IPTV/HD over copper and fiber to our customers in Canby, Oregon.”

 

He continued, “As more consumers install HD-ready screens, their expectations and demands for HD programming grow with every passing week – IP-PRIME’s HD-4 is an efficient and best of all, high-quality solution that meets that demand.”

 

“About a year ago, the IP-PRIME team recognized that the IPTV pioneers who initiated their TV services with MPEG-2 encoding, were challenged to deliver HD channels over their networks,” said Jim Ducay, COO of SES AMERICOM. “Through our close relationships with the programmers, we realized that the number of HD channels was going to grow exponentially, so we introduced the IP-PRIME HD-4 solution in late 2007. The 32 or 40 channel HD-4 service can be up and running in 60 days, and our MPEG-4 HD picture quality is stunning.”

 

NRTC (News - Alert), in partnership with the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA) and SES AMERICOM, offers IP-PRIME to its members in rural America.

 

Canby Telcom provides telecommunications and entertainment services to more than 8,000 customers in the northern Willamette Valley of Oregon. Canby Digital Television service has more than 200 channels, including 36 HD channels.

 

IP-PRIME is an IPTV transport solution that telecom carriers, cable operators, and private networks can use to provide their subscribers with the content that they demand including 50+ channels of HD plus another 200+ SD channels.

 

SES AMERICOM and Canby Telcom are members of the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) that represents the advanced telecommunications and information technology interests of more than 1,400 rural utilities and affiliates in 47 states. Founded in 1986, NRTC provides products and services developed for rural utilities and their customers, such as high-speed Internet access via satellite, full-service Internet access and support, wireless technologies, long-distance programs, mobile phone service, IP broadband backbone services, and direct broadcast satellite service (DBS) with DIRECTV.