SES carries UHD to 30+ US partners
April 19, 2018
By Chris Forrester
Satellite operator SES is now beaming a dozen Ultra-HD channels to viewers in the US. According to Steve Corda, SES’ VP/Media Platforms, and speaking at the recent NAB event in Las Vegas, more than 30 cable and IPTV operators are now taking its UHD signals, and Verizon FiOS and Frontier Communications are testing 4K carriage and deployment.
SES is currently transmitting its UHD signals using HEVC compression and taking 18 Mb/s in terms of capacity per channel.
SES is also bringing on-line its SES-6 craft for delivery of UHD to Brazil, and Corda says SES-14 will also boost coverage over the Latino region once it is operational later this year. SES-14 was launched in January but suffered an incorrect geostationary orbital injection, and will not be on station until mid-year.
One driver for this summer, says Corda, is the upcoming FIFA World Cup football tournament, which he hopes will add to existing services from NASA TV, Fashion One and its own demonstration channel.