Following the successful global satellite broadcast of the London 2012 Olympic Games, Euro-Cup 2012, NBA, Formula One and other major events, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), operator of the world’s largest satellite and fiber live video network, has decided to upgrade its European satellite network with modulating equipment based on NovelSat advanced NS3™ third generation satellite technology. This upgrade will effectively make the EBU satellite network the fastest, most advanced and robust in the world.
The EBU is the world’s foremost alliance of public service media organizations and operates EUROVISION, the media industry’s premier distributor and producer of high-end live sport and news, as well as entertainment, culture and music content.
This deal will see the EBU upgrading a significant part of its vast European satellite network to NS1000 and NS2000 Satellite Modulators and Demodulators powered by NovelSat NS3 technology.
With increasing demand for more HD channels, high-end video and Ultra High Definition TV (UHDTV) on the horizon, satellite bandwidth demand is outstripping supply for certain specific footprints. This shortage has been driving up satellite transmission costs while limiting availability, thereby forcing leading broadcasters to search for innovative solutions to address this critical business challenge.
NovelSat NS3 technology has been proven to utilize available spectrum much more effectively than solutions based on industry standard technology. It provides up to a 30 percent increase in data rate per given bandwidth. The advantage of this next generation technology goes way beyond the capacity savings. The daily use of this technology in many extreme conditions has revealed it to be much more robust because it handles channel impairments such as phase noise, non-linearity, jamming and interference and other factors in a much more efficient and effective way than other technologies.
“Our members are demanding more and more HD video content. But current satellite spectrum limitations, as well as cost constraints, require that we do more with less,” said Paolo Pusterla, Head of Procurement & Partnerships at EBU Network. “At our major sporting events, such as the London 2012 Olympic Games, NovelSat showed that NS3 is the right choice for our European network.”
Graham Warren, EBU Director of Network added, “The deployment of NovelSat NS3 technology around the globe enables the EBU to deliver more video services over its available bandwidth. In other words, we can transmit more and in higher quality, without increasing our monthly transmission costs, and increase the channel count to deliver more revenue-generating programming.”
NovelSat state-of-the-art equipment will be used for the transmission of EBU events, including all major European sports broadcasts and news gathering, which demand the highest video image quality.
“Our technology is setting a new standard of performance for the industry in more than 100 countries around the world. For us at NovelSat, the decision by a world leading organization of the magnitude of EBU to upgrade its entire network with our NS3 technology is further confirmation that we have a winning technology,” said Dan Peleg, Vice President of R&D of NovelSat. “It is very satisfying to know that we are helping the EBU enable hundreds of millions of people to enjoy high quality media events under increasingly challenging conditions.”
