[Satellite News 09-08-11] A slew of recent contract wins with media customers has helped Intelsat augment its video distribution neighborhoods in several key regions and allow programmers to convey content to customers across vast geographic regions, the FSS operator announced Sept. 8.

   In Europe, Intelsat entered into a multi-year, multi-transponder agreement with Russian DTH television service provider Orion Express to support SD and HD video content. The deal will see Intelsat move one of its Ku-band satellites to the 85 degrees East orbital slot by the first quarter of 2012 in order to leverage extended capacity to Orion. Intelsat said the satellite would remain at its new orbital slot through 2023, providing a wide-beam to ensure consistent signal reception from Russia’s western borders to Irkutsk in Siberia.

   Eastern European broadcaster DigiTV and its owners S.C. RCS and RDS, renewed their lease contracts with Intelsat for capacity at the operator’s 1 degree West video neighborhood. RCS will use the capacity to serve more than 2 million subscribers across five countries.

“Intelsat’s strategy to reposition existing satellite assets, and to launch new and optimized capacity to enhance our video neighborhoods, enables our customers to expand their services in new and exciting ways. Our global satellite fleet, combined with the IntelsatONE terrestrial infrastructure, continues to attract the world’s top programmers,” Intelsat Senior Vice President of Global Sales Kurt Riegelman said in a statement.

In the Americas, broadcast-over-satellite provider STN recently entered into an agreement with Intelsat to allow the operator to deliver its international content to its customers in North America and expand the reach of its programming platform. The multi-year, multi-transponder deal provides STN with direct-to-home content programming space on Intelsat’s Galaxy 19 satellite, located at the 97 degrees West orbital slot. 

   Portugal Telecom also renewed its multi-year contract for Intelsat distribution of Rádio e Televisão de Portugal across Latin America and Africa. The content will be provided via Intelsat 805 from the 304.5 degrees East location and in Africa on Intelsat 907 at 332.5 degrees East. Avail-TVN signed a multi-transponder contract for Intelsat C-band services on Galaxy 28 at 89 degrees West, which will support Avail-TVN’s efforts to provide a suite of IPTV, high-definition and VOD services to its customers across North America and the Caribbean.

   Brazilian for-profit professional education company Anhanguera recently announced that it is migrating all of its services to C-band capacity on the Intelsat 1R satellite, as part of a multi-transponder deal that will see Anhanguera broadcast up to 50 channels from its uplink centers in Brazil. The channels will then be received by more than 500 distance-learning centers in the country.

   SNG provider Casablanca also is signing on for Intelsat 1R capacity through a recent deal with Intelsat for C-band services. Intelsat 1R will broadcast Casablanca’s Cinelive HD live content to 65 movie theaters across 23 cities in Brazil and allow the company to create a live network in Brazilian digital movie theaters for alternative content distribution, including entertainment, sporting events and corporate training.

   Latin American video carrier and content management provider TIBA extended its C-band capacity lease on Intelsat 27 at 304.5 degrees East, which will replace Intelsat 805 in late 2012 or early 2013. TIBA will use Intelsat transponders to provide SD and HD video programming to tier-1 broadcasters in the Americas and in Western Europe throughout the 15-year life of the satellite, as well as to bundle its satellite broadcast services with the space segment to provide turnkey solutions to broadcasters.

   Intelsat also saw new and renewed leases in the Asia-Pacific region. Canal Plus, a French pay-TV operator, signed a multi-transponder, long-term agreement for Ku-band capacity on Intelsat 18, which is scheduled to launch in October. The satellite will provide high-power Ku-band capacity to enable Canal Plus HD DTH programming over New Caledonia. Bharti Teleports also signed a multi-year capacity agreement to provide video services in India and throughout Asia on Intelsat 17 at 66 degrees East, providing Bharti with multiple transponder to serve its cable headend community in India.

   “Business activity is strong, driven by favorable demand trends for broadband infrastructure and media distribution for DTH and cable applications,” Intelsat CEO David McGlade said in a statement released after the operator’s 2011 second quarter. “Overall growth was muted as a result of reduced mobile satellite services revenues in our government business and decreased network services revenues. Still, we experienced strong revenue growth of 9 percent in our government business and modest growth in our media business.”