SES (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG) announced a strategic partnership with Viking Satcom for the development and deployment of commercial satellite antenna systems to enable the expansion of its center arc cable neighborhood.
Cable operators are increasingly accessing the trio of SES center arc satellites, AMC-18, AMC-1 and SES-1, to bolster their lineups with popular regional and national programming. SES has initiated a fully-funded antenna program aimed at making it easy for cable systems to receive content from the center arc birds, complementing SES’ two highly acclaimed western arc satellites, AMC-10 and AMC-11, which have long been home to the premium cable dial.
As part of SES’ new center arc antenna program, qualified cable operators will receive free of charge a C-band antenna system from supplier Viking Satcom capable of receiving all existing and future SES delivered cable programming on the center arc cable neighborhood. With full visibility of SES’ well positioned cable satellites, cable operators will experience higher levels of network resiliency and support through SES’ inter-satellite backup and restoration services.
“This exciting alliance between Viking Satcom and SES represents a new opportunity for innovative cable operators looking to grow their audiences and customer base with great content delivered straight from the best neighborhoods in the business,” said Steve Pokornicki, Vice President of Viking Satcom. “We look forward to working closely with SES and serving the important cable television market with the best satellite antenna solutions available today.”
“This SES-Viking Satcom partnership is all about enabling more cable operators, and ultimately more cable subscribers, to access more quality programming easily, seamlessly and reliably throughout North America,” explained Steve Bunke, Vice President of North America Commercial Sales for SES. “The equipment that Viking-Satcom supplies and ships is representative of the top quality antenna solutions supporting the SES center arc antenna program.”
The expanding cable neighborhood aboard the AMC-1, AMC-18 and SES-1 satellites has attracted a growing lineup of leading cable operators, who have already signed on to the SES center arc antenna program.
SES-1 provides full 50-state North American coverage in C- and Ku-band to deliver a host of communications services. SES-1 also carries video channels that are part of a prime cable neighborhood. AMC-1 offers prime North America coverage with a C-band payload that is home to national television networks broadcasting to thousands of cable headends. The Ku-band beam supports VSAT and broadband services for enterprise customers. AMC-18 is optimized for digital television distribution for the center of the U.S. orbital arc and covers all 50 states, Canada, the Caribbean and Mexico. AMC-10 and AMC-11 are home to America’s leading cable neighborhood, offering fully protected distributed cable television programming regionally and nationally. The two satellites provide advanced C-band digital transmission services.
