After more than a year of trials and continuous development, SES Americom is all systems go, declaring commercial availability of its IP-Prime satellite-based IPTV distribution system in North America.

At launch time, SES Americom supports two models of service: Telcos can opt for a managed service where SES Americom manages the delivery of content all the way to the set-top box on behalf of the telco or an unmanaged service where the telco takes the satellite feed and manages the last-mile distribution on its own.

The company demonstrated its service last month in its booth at NXTcomm, where it made the announcement. The company used a live satellite feed from its headend and highlighted two options for middleware: Myrio and NDS.

IP-Prime delivers more than 275 channels of programming today, including 20 high-definition (HD) channels. It has more content relationship agreements in the works. In April it announced additions to its channel lineup, including programs from Comcast Networks, Fox Cable Networks, NBC Universal, Showtime Networks and Turner Broadcasting System.

“We provide a new medium for content companies to reach out to new markets,” said Jon Russo, senior vice president of marketing and product management for SES Americom.

It does so with its carrier-grade headend, a choice of consumer set-top boxes and multiple middleware solutions. The company says it is the first to bring an end-to-end, satellite-based television service to market built completely on the MPEG-4 video standard.

“Some telcos have already invested in MPEG-2 compression technology, which does not future-proof their investment. We can take the headache out of transitioning to MPEG-4,” Russo said.

IP-Prime comes with existing transport agreements and more than 100 digital music channels. In addition to the 20 HD stations, SES Americom supports pay-per-view programming and the ability to offer video-on-demand service. It has several interactive features it will be releasing soon.

Steve Bing, senior vice president of the NRTC, said SES Americom gives its member companies the easiest path to a very comprehensive and technically advanced television service. And Michelle Abraham, principal analyst of converging markets and technologies for In-Stat, said IP-Prime minimizes the risk of a complex technical integration and simplifies difficult program acquisition challenges for small and large telcos.

The NRTC provides more than the interface between SES Americom and rural providers. It also provides marketing support through print and electronic advertising on national or regional scales, exclusive programmer promotions and regional sales and marketing. Earlier this year, SES Americom established a partnership with Cisco Systems whereby Cisco will act as a chief infrastructure supplier and integrator for customers and work with the NRTC.

The NRTC represents more than 1000 rural telcos, and Bryan McGuirk, president of media and enterprise services for SES Americom, said many have come to the company's offices to evaluate the technology.

In June of last year, Valley Telephone Cooperative (VTCI), a rural telco based in Raymondville, Texas, said it would be the first telco cooperative to roll out IPTV service from the NRTC and SES Americom. Georgia's Planters Rural Telephone Cooperative and the West Kentucky Rural Telephone Cooperative also have put the IP-Prime service through trials.

Although the company is still developing or working through the permissions for new interactive services, Russo said that with its ecosystem partners in place, its breadth of programming and both its managed and unmanaged options available, it was time to launch.

“We said we are ready because we are,” he said.

THE LONG ORBIT TO IPTV

1971 - RCA buys Alaskan Communications Systems and becomes RCA Alascom.

1975 - RCA AMERICOM is born as domestic satellite fleet per FCC.

1976 - HBO launches cable programming using AMERICOM satellites.

1986 - GE buys RCA.

1992 - Satcom C3 and Satcom C4 launch with dedicated C-band for cable.

1994 - GE AMERICOM buys GTE Spacenet.

1998 - GE AMERICOM introduces Ku-band in Europe.

2001 - SES ASTRA acquires AMERICOM from GE.

2002 - SES AMERICOM serves direct broadcast industry with AMERICOM2Home.

2004 - SES AMERICOM launches HD-Prime and replaces C3 and C4 with AMC11 and 10.

2006 - Develops and begins trials of IP-PRIME, a turnkey IPTV solutions.

2007 - Goes commercial with IP-PRIME.

Source: CTAM