EchoStar Satellite Services agrees to deliver its
ViP-TV video transport service to Citizens Cablevision, a full service provider of digital television programming in Virginia and a wholly owned subsidiary of Citizens Telephone Cooperative. Citizens will receive transport of up to 42 popular high definition TV channels to its IP headend.
Citizens provides broadband data, video and voice services to residents and businesses in Southwest Virginia. Citizens Cablevision sought a platform that would enable it to offer competitive video services using its existing IP network.
EchoStar's ViP-TV transport service offers a secure, MPEG-4 encoded IP stream of approximately 275 popular, broadcast-quality TV and music channels from a satellite located at 85 degrees W.L. ViP-TV can also provide satellite-delivered local TV channel aggregation in a telco's designated market area in both high definition and standard definition (where available).