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Spotlight: Baseball’s All-Star Game Goes Global

By Staff Writer | July 21, 2003

      Major League Baseball fans in more than 200 countries worldwide watched last week’s All-Star Game with an assist that came from a distance much further away than the nose-bleed seats at Chicago’s U.S. Cellular Field where the event was held.

      Four Intelsat satellites, the 901 at 342ºE, 707 at 359ºE, 805 at 304.5ºE and 701 at 180ºE, brought the games to viewers from North America to Europe, and Latin America and Asia, respectively. Intelsat’s Occasional Video Solutions (OVS) network provided the All-Star service as it does for more than 40 Major League Baseball games per week during the regular season.

      Intelsat’s name was not listed among the lineups for either the American or National Leagues but it played a key role in the game by delivering its major video switch interconnects, transporting them by fiber to two teleports, then uplinking to the satellites for worldwide transmission.

      BT Broadcast Services provides Major League Baseball with Intelsat capacity for the Asian distribution that includes more than seven games per week to Asian rights holders. With Japanese outfielders, Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners and Hideki Matsui of the New York Yankees, composing two-thirds of the American League’s starting outfield, the All-Star game undoubtedly drew much interest in that baseball-loving country.

      Occasional use service is perfect for “high value” sports content distribution, said Ramu Potarazu, chief operating officer at Intelsat Ltd.

      Russell Gabay, executive producer, Major League Baseball International, said Intelsat was chosen due to its “exceptional customer service,” global distribution capability, and reliable end-to-end network. Intelsat’s transmissions during the first half of the regular season have been All-Star caliber, he added.

      Intelsat’s global terrestrial end-to-end infrastructure includes teleports in California, Maryland, Germany and Hong Kong, as well as fiber interconnected Points of Presence in Los Angeles, New York, Frankfurt and London. –Paul Dykewicz

      (Ramu Potarazu, Intelsat, 202/944-7656)