Intelsat, Ltd. has announced the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has signed a multi-transponder deal for the video carriage of the 2008 Summer Games to Europe. The EBU will use C-/Ku-band cross-strap capacity on the Intelsat 706 satellite, located at 50.2° E, to distribute the all HD event to its members. The EBU, of which a large proportion of the major European broadcasters are members, provides a full range of network services, including but not limited to HD transmissions to broadband video carriage. Intelsat will be on site in Beijing providing managed services to both the rights holding and non-rights holding broadcasters. Services will include:
- Managed platforms for encoding and multiplexing
- Transmission services via the Intelsat global network to virtually any destination in the world
- Managed fiber services
- Turn-around services on the Intelsat network to include standards conversion, re-mux and data/IP
- Live shot position, with backdrop of the Olympic Stadium and Olympic Green
- Multi-format tape play-out services
- Feed point connected to a fixed uplink in Beijing
