PSSI Global Services Grows Business With Pittsburgh International Teleport Acquisition

The move will allow management of the company’s services from beginning to end user

In an effort to better serve its existing customer base and dive deeper into the world of OTT and REMI services, PSSI Global Services has acquired the Pittsburgh International Teleport and assumed full operation and control of the Pennsylvania-based satellite facility.

“The opportunity presented itself about three or four months ago, and it intrigued us,” says Matt Bridges, president, Strategic Television division, PSSI Global Services. “We don’t think anybody can do the types of services that we do better. Generally, those have been originating from the event sites, but we also use gateways throughout the world for many live broadcasts that we’re managing, so we decided it would be a good opportunity to invest in a gateway, that we would be able to manage all of our services from the beginning all the way through the gateway to the end user.

“We were intrigued by the ability to be able to do that,” he continues, “and then, obviously, we’re always looking for different ways to grow our business. We thought that the teleport would offer some entry into a lot of different opportunities.”

The teleport, which will now be called the PSSI International Teleport (PIT), features 50 Ku- and C-band antennas facilitating transmissions to locations throughout the U.S. as well as Europe and Asia. The teleport also supports worldwide connectivity via fiber, IP, microwave, and mobile uplink.

“It certainly offers the over-the-top type of opportunities that we’d like to offer and, potentially, REMI-type services as well,” says PSSI Global Services/Strategic TV CEO Rob Lamb. “Pittsburgh International Teleport has established and growing over-the-top services already, so we were able to jump into that business with an established over-the-top business. We thought that was an important direction for our company.”

With this transition, PSSI Global Services will continue to serve the teleport’s existing clients, and the majority of the teleport’s staff will retain their positions.

Leveraging the PIT, PSSI Global Services will provide 24/7 support to clients across the globe, including direct-to-home (DTH), uplink, downlink, and turnaround services; disaster recovery; co-location and quality-control engineering; and syndicated-television-programming–distribution services.

Also included in the acquisition is the Pittsburgh Videotech Center, a state-of-the-art, full-service studio located in downtown Pittsburgh. The facility features a fully equipped multicamera production studio and audio-recording studio with domestic and international connectivity. From this facility, PSSI Global Services will provide videoconferencing, live network-news inserts, remote-production capabilities, and webcasting services to clients around the world.

“Our acquisition of the teleport and studio facilities will significantly enhance the depth of service we can provide our clients,” says Bridges. “We are now able to directly manage projects on a broader scale, with in-house resources. This will give us greater control over our quality of service and expedite the transmission coordination process, allowing for a more efficient workflow and seamless results.”