NAB: Arqiva Launches New Shared Multiplex Service

Complete NAB 2011 Coverage

In a major expansion of its U.S. services, Arqiva is launched a new DVB-S2, MPEG-4 shared multiplex satellite platform (mux) that will provide broadcast and cable clients with access to 100 percent of U.S. cable headends.

This new cable distribution platform, which will originate from the company's Los Angeles teleport and is expected to go live in the third quarter of 2011, will ride on SES World Skies' AMC-10 satellite located at 135 degrees west and will be powered by Cisco's latest generation MPEG-4 encoding technology.

"Arqiva's U.S. platform is the latest addition to the many distribution platforms we already operate out of the U.K. [and]....is our first significant platform investment into the US market," noted Jon Kirchner, executive VP and general manager of Arqiva Broadcast & Media in an email. "Most importantly, we also bring to our new cable Mux considerable hands-on experience in the transmission of 3D, HD and Digital Cinema in the UK and throughout Europe."

Arqiva will managing the encoding, multiplexing and delivery of content to AMC-10, ensuring that its customers have the latest in advanced C-band digital transmission services to US cable headends, and it will be providing conditional access management for the Integrated Receiver Decoders (IRDs).