SES, Vivicast Media to Launch UHD-1 Satellite

SES S.A. and Vivicast Media unveiled UHD-1, a new dynamic Ultra HD channel for North American cable operators, telco’s and their audiences. UHD-1 will be delivered over the SES-3 satellite, one of three satellites (SES-1, SES-3 and AMC-18) that make up SES’s Ultra HD distribution neighborhood at the center of the orbital arc over North America.

Vivicast Media continues to add new Ultra HD content and titles to the rich program line-up of feature films, television series, exclusive concerts and documentaries for viewers in America and beyond.

This is the fourth unique Ultra HD channel to be featured on SES’s Ultra HD platform, which is accelerating the delivery of linear live Ultra HD programming to North American homes served by multiple video program distributors (MVPDs). In addition to UHD-1, SES’s Ultra HD neighbourhood also features NASA TV UHD, Fashion One 4K and High 4K TV.

UHD-1 is the eighth unique Ultra HD channel delivered to cable, telco and DTH audiences across SES’s global satellite fleet. A true leader in global video distribution, SES delivers a record 7,268 TV channels worldwide, including 2,230 HDTV channels. The current channel growth is driven as well as the further expansion of SES’s Video business across emerging markets.

“Vivicast Media has been on the cutting edge of Ultra HD market development for years, preparing for its delivery on a large scale. Now that Ultra HD is becoming reality, we’re very excited about our collaboration with SES, a true innovator in solutions that are accelerating the delivery of Ultra HD to the home,” said Stuart Smitherman, President of Vivicast Media. “We’re focused on providing the very best Ultra HD programming on UHD-1, and we continue to search for new partnerships we can explore to expand on our Ultra HD portfolio. Our relationship with SES enables us to offer content producers broad access to the North American marketplace, which will be a key driver in the timely delivery of this new frontier in television content.”

“UHD-1 is yet another channel in our growing North America Ultra HD line-up that is delivered to virtually every cable TV head end over our unique end-to-end satellite-based Ultra HD platform unveiled last year,” said Steve Corda, Vice President North America Business Development at SES. “As consumers continue to add Ultra HD TVs into their homes, a robust channel offering is essential to meet their thirst for compelling high quality Ultra HD programming. Our agreement with Vivicast Media and the launch of UHD-1 brings a fourth Ultra HD channel to our North American platform. SES and its centre of the arc Ultra HD satellite neighbourhood has become the partner of choice and place to be for cable operators and other MVPDs ready to deploy Ultra HD across their networks.”