Intelsat Inks Indian Broadcast Capacity Lease with NSTPL

[Satellite TODAY 03-23-12] Indian satellite broadcast infrastructure services provider Noida Software Technology Park Ltd. (NSTPL) has selected FSS operator Intelsat to provide satellite capacity for a new digital cable television distribution platform in India, Intelsat announced March 22.

   The broadcaster signed a multi-year, multi-transponder agreement for C-band capacity on the Intelsat 902 satellite operating at the 62 degrees East orbital slot. NSTPL said it would use the capacity to create a white label, turnkey channel package that can be received and distributed by multiple system and local cable operators throughout the region.
   NSTPL’s planned Headend-in-the-Sky (HITS) platform aims to support India’s national goal of completing the transition from analog to digital broadcast television signals by 2014.
   “India has a burgeoning cable distribution market with more than 80 million homes receiving television programming via cable,” Intelsat Regional Vice President of Asia-Pacific Sales Terry Bleakley said in a statement. “Intelsat’s satellites and video neighborhoods allow for new and innovative platforms that reach an increasingly greater number of consumers in one of the world’s fastest growing economies.”