ASTRA Gets Real Harmonic Support

Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ: HLIT) has announced ASTRA Platform Services GmbH (APS), a subsidiary of SES ASTRA (LX: SESG), has selected Harmonic’s DiviCom® Electra® 7000 high definition (HD) encoders and DiviTrackIP™ statistical multiplexing for a network upgrade designed to substantially enhance and expand its HD MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) service. APS operates one of Europe’s most modern satellite broadcast centers, transmitting more than 200 TV and audio channels to subscribers throughout Europe from its headend in Germany. APS was Germany’s first playout center to offer HDTV as a regular service. SES ASTRA delivers services to more than 117 million direct-to-home and cable households. Harmonic’s high performance encoding and IP-based statistical multiplexing solutions enable APS to combine multiple MPEG-4 AVC HD channels in a single pool, resulting in more efficient use of network capacity and reduced operational complexity. In addition, APS is now able to multiplex standard definition (SD) and high definition channels together in a shared statistical multiplex pool, resulting in greater flexibility and scalability of the channel line-up.