SES AMERICOM sold out its entire available inventory of Ku-band transponder capacity to support news reporting of Super Tuesday presidential primary elections across the United States. Occasional use satellite services allow media companies to purchase capacity on SES AMERICOM satellites to support special events and short-term broadcasting needs.

Over 700 channel hours, representing 14 full transponders of Ku-band transponder capacity, were sold in advance of Super Tuesday. This load is more than ten times what SES AMERICOM books for coverage of a typical news event.

DISH Network satellite TV service is enhancing its already robust international programming lineup by premiering the Thuan Viet channel. Thuan Viet is available exclusively on DISH Network and is the satellite TV provider's first Vietnamese channel.

Thuan Viet is a pure entertainment channel with offerings for the whole family, including hit dramas, comedies, cooking, fashion and travel shows, traditional and modern Vietnamese music, Vietnamese stage performances of Cai Long, Kich and more. Thuan Viet is considered the first true Vietnamese television channel created for America with 100 percent of the programming originating in Vietnam.

After some final trials and tweaking, SES AMERICOM said today that its end-to-end IPTV solution, IP-PRIME, is commercially available. IP-PRIME has received extensive and successful technical trials with large, medium and small sized telcos across the United States, and is now available to any North American telco looking for a turnkey solution to offer their customers a world-class television service.

SES AMERICOM's IP-PRIME gives telecommunications companies the ability to offer television together with their other services. It goes without saying that adding television service can be complex and expensive, but IP-PRIME minimizes the risk of a complex technical integration, simplifies difficult program acquisition challenges and lowers their financial risks for launching a television service.

Maxime Bernier announces the results of a licensing initiative to authorize the development of new Canadian satellites that will increase and improve broadcasting and telecommunications services to Canadian entrepreneurs and consumers. The first satellites are expected to provide services as early as 2010.

"Canada needs to increase its satellite capacity to keep pace with the ever-increasing demand for satellite services," said Minister Bernier. "By awarding these new licences, we are helping the expansion of satellite capacity and services that will benefit Canadians for years to come. We're helping to foster an environment that will bring all the benefits of competition, including increased product and service offerings, choice in supplier, competitive prices and export revenues."

On the verge of its nationwide commercial IPTV launch, SES AMERICOM, an SES company announces that Comcast Networks, Fox Cable Networks, NBC Universal, Showtime Networks, and Turner Broadcasting System, representing some of the world’s best and most watched television, have joined the IP-PRIME IPTV digital dial, which now features more than 350 channels.

Comcast Networks, Fox Cable, NBC Universal, Showtime Networks and Turner have signed IP-PRIME transport agreements, enabling SES AMERICOM to process their popular programming for IPTV distribution over its AMC-9 satellite to authorized video hubs and consumers’ IPTV set top boxes.

Eagle Broadband has entered into a multi-year agreement with FrontGate Broadband, a multi-service broadband provider, to deliver IPTV services to condominium and master planned properties in Florida.

Since December, Eagle has been delivering IPTV signals on a test basis to FrontGate MediaCom, which plans to deliver standard and high-definition programming to properties under contract to FrontGate.

Avail Media has signed a contract to offer Intelsat’s MPEG-4 content aggregation and delivery service - Intelsat IPTV. With the new agreement, Avail Media, who provides turnkey solutions, will be able to offer an IPTV solution to its customer base consisting of telco operators fiber-to-the-home providers and independent cable operators. Avail will offer its IPTV solution starting in the second quarter of 2007.

The Intelsat IPTV Super Headend will offer a lineup of more than 200 video and audio channels in MPEG-4 IP format.

Cisco and SES AMERICOM are working together to enable rural local exchange carriers in North America to offer IPTV to their subscribers using a solution that combines the Cisco IP Next-Generation Networks with SES AMERICOM's IP-PRIME IPTV service. The end-to-end offering processes content and television programming and distributes it via satellite to telecommunications companies and their IPTV consumers nationwide. Systems integration from both companies and their respective partners is an integral part of the offering.

In rural areas of the United States, telecommunications companies will offer IP-PRIME through the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) in partnership with the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA).

Sky Angel, a U.S. direct broadcast satellite (DBS) provider, has agreed to provide more than 30 TV and radio channels of Christian and family programming to ShifTV for delivery via a high-speed Internet connection to Canadians' televisions using a set-top box provided by ShifTV. Among the advantages is the ability to watch programming through the TV and surf the Internet on the computer simultaneously using the same high-speed connection.

SES AMERICOM, an SES GLOBAL company, announced MTV Networks, Scripps Networks, The Weather Channel, Fox News Channel and a host of popular TV and music networks have signed IP-PRIME transport agreements, taking SES AMERICOM's IPTV lineup to 290 channels.

SES AMERICOM's IPTV content originates from the IP-PRIME IPTV Broadcast Center based in Vernon Valley, New Jersey, where video and audio programming is received, processed, and then securely transported nationwide over the AMC-9 satellite to authorized video hubs and consumer set top boxes.

Amino has announced a multi-year set top box agreement to support SES AMERICOM's IP-PRIME service. As part of the agreement, Amino will provide its AmiNET130 set top box, a fully flexible standard and high definition, MPEG-2/4 AVC/H.264 capable device, to enable SES AMERICOM's end-to-end delivery of its IP-PRIME IPTV service to consumer homes throughout the U.S.

Rural telephone companies in three cities are already in advanced trials of IP-PRIME, which enables telcos and broadband service providers to greatly cut deployment costs and accelerate time to market.

SES AMERICOM and International Datacasting Corporation have integrated IDC's next-generation DVB-S2 satellite receivers aboard the IP-PRIME IPTV service. As part of a newly-signed agreement, IDC is the exclusive provider of satellite receivers over the initial year of IP-PRIME service rollouts.

SES AMERICOM has integrated Harmonic's latest video encryption technology with SES AMERICOM's IP-PRIME IPTV distribution service. The new Harmonic ProStream 1000 with ProCipher AES scrambling and bulk descrambling technology is a key component of IP-PRIME, which enables large and small telephone company operators and broadband service providers across the U.S. to securely, easily and cost-effectively deliver a full lineup of top quality programming to consumers.

Officials with Eagle Broadband, Inc., a national provider of broadband, Internet protocol (IP) and communications technology and services, announced the company began construction of its super head-end and satellite farm at NewCom International in Miami, Florida.

The new super head-end being constructed at NewCom International's Miami teleport will allow Eagle to collect and digitize IPTV content gathered from the more than 30 satellites across North America.

With decades of reliable and trusted programming delivery under its belt, SES AMERICOM, an SES GLOBAL company, announced more than 30 leading television programmers and networks representing 120 channels have signed IPTV transport agreements with SES AMERICOM and its IP-PRIME IPTV Television Broadcast Center. Starz!/Encore, A&E Television Networks, Hallmark Channels, and Lifetime Networks headline a growing lineup, which is expected to surpass the 200 channel mark by the time IP-PRIME makes its commercial debut later this year.