MTN had previously aimed the Worldwide TV premium content service specifically to the cruise industry since 2008, supporting 78 vessels across 20 cruise lines. MTN Commercial Shipping and Energy Services Senior Vice President and General Manager Brad Briggs said the company has used its experience with Worldwide TV to build comprehensive solution for broadcast television that exceeds the needs of customers.

   “We believe that all sea farers should have access to quality entertainment and current event programming, including live news, sports and special events like the Olympics, award shows or organizational events,” Briggs said in a statement. “MTN Worldwide TV provides consistent, cost effective content on a global scale, aiding in building crew morale and delivering on-board internal communications, information and entertainment. Receiving secured, licensed content aboard a ship or remote platform at sea can be challenging, yet we are able to do this seamlessly, regardless of location, without requiring a vessel to swap out receivers or change service providers.”

   MTN Worldwide TV offers maritime customers a fully digital, multi-channel television service that leverages a global infrastructure, delivering programming from eight major U.S. and international television networks. The platform includes broadcasting feeds from BBC World News, CNBC, Fox News, MSNBC, Sky News, Sky Sports News, Sport 24 and E! Entertainment Television and has included special event sports and news programming. MTN said the service utilizes overlapping satellite beams that integrate seamlessly with a vessel’s existing Television Receive-Only (TVRO) antenna and onboard video distribution system.

   “MTN ensures viewers at sea receive reliable, uninterrupted service regardless of location by managing the satellite network and content,” said Briggs. “Our Worldwide TV service is available in all ocean regions and is a great core TV service to supplement any existing programming that might be lost when the vessel is at sea.”

   The service expansion follows a long-term agreement MTN signed with Intelsat earlier this month to access the operator’s new EpicNG open-architecture satellite platform. MTN Satellite Communications President and CEO Errol Olivier told Satellite News his company was looking for a high-throughput solution that made sense for its region of operations.

In serving its cruise and yacht customers in the Caribbean, MTN found the most logical option in a Ku-band system, leveraging the first Intelsat EpicNG satellite, Intelsat 29e, to provide more than 2 gigabits of capacity. “The strategy of deploying a spot-beam technology over our very concentrated areas of business really came from within MTN,” said Olivier. “What we really like about their EpicNG is that it’s not a consumer-grade solution, but a carrier-grade solution, which makes sense for us since we’re more of a carrier-class service provider. The new Intelsat satellite is going to provide four- to five-times the amount of capacity as a traditional satellite and that’s going to allow us to meet our customer demands, which require a lot more throughput than what they’re getting today. Those demands are going to intensify beyond that in the future, as more customers require the at-home connectivity experience wherever they are in the world. We’re going to have to push the bar.”