SES Americom Inc. will deliver all 13 Discovery Communications Inc. U.S. networks and BBC America under terms of a deal announced Thursday.
The satellite company’s Washington International Teleport earth station and HD-PRIME neighborhood, aboard its AMC-10 and AMC-11 satellites, will monitor and distribute all of the services.
DCI’s Sterling, Va.-based digital-playout facility was linked to SES’ WIT facility in nearby Alexandria, where the network feeds are being monitored and uplinked to the twin spacecraft orbiting above the earth, the two companies said. Once aboard the HD-PRIME satellites, programming is ultimately delivered to every cable and direct-broadcast satellite household across the country.
“By moving all of our U.S. networks’ programming distribution to SES Americom, through its WIT facility and over the HD-PRIME satellites, Discovery has placed the critical delivery piece of our end-to-end digital solution in the highly capable and qualified hands of a proven partner,” DCI television-operations group senior vice president John Honeycutt said in a prepared statement.
SES president of North American media solutions Bryan McGuirk added, “SES Americom's state-of-the-art earth station and the reach of our HD-PRIME neighborhood position Discovery and its impressive Television and Technology Center to serve viewers whenever and wherever they want to watch on a growing number of traditional and new-media devices.”
