NSTPL Selects Intelsat Satellite for Launch of ‘Headend in the Sky’
for Digital Cable TV Service
Luxembourg, 21 March 2012
Intelsat S.A., the world’s leading provider of satellite services, and Jain TV Group’s Noida Software Technology Park Limited (NSTPL), the leading Indian provider of satellite broadcast infrastructure services, today announced the selection of Intelsat to provide satellite capacity for a new digital cable television distribution platform for India. NSTPL’s planned ‘Headend in the Sky’, or HITS platform, supports India’s national goal of completing the transition to digital broadcast television signals by 2014.
NSTPL has signed a multi-year, multi-transponder agreement for C-band capacity on Intelsat 902 at 62° East. The company will use the capacity to create a white label, turnkey channel package that can be received and distributed by multiple system and local cable operators throughout the region.
“NSTPL is proud of its association with Intelsat and excited that our HITS platform will facilitate pan-India service beginning this September, signifying an important step in the transition to India’s national goal of full digitalization of television signals by 2014. The platform will launch with more than 200 digital television channels and will expand to 350 by 2013,” said Dr. J.K. Jain, chairman of NSTPL and Jain TV Group. “Any cable operator can offer digital cable service with a nominal investment of approximately Rs 5 lakhs instead of spending crores of rupees to upgrade their networks.”
NSTPL also announced that Shri Pradip Baijal, former chairman of TRAI, shall be the mentor for the NSTPL’s HITS project, and will provide leadership on a full-time basis. NSTPL’s offerings will be white label and will not compete with those of any other providers; rather the company will provide solutions directly to cable operators.
“India has a burgeoning cable distribution market with more than 80 million homes receiving television programming via cable,” said Terry Bleakley, Intelsat’s regional vice president for Asia-Pacific sales. “Intelsat’s satellites and video neighborhoods allow for new and innovative platforms that reach an increasingly greater number of consumers in one of the world’s fastest growing economies.”
About NSTPL
With more than 20 years of experience in satellite-based services, NSTPL is a world-class provider of quality services such as TV broadcasting, video uplink, news gathering, occasional feeds, news feeds, downlinking of international channels, and integration of teleports and DSNG. NSTPL is presently serving more than 50 national and international broadcasters.
About Intelsat
Intelsat is the leading provider of satellite services worldwide. For over 45 years, Intelsat has been delivering information and entertainment for many of the world’s leading media and network companies, multinational corporations, Internet Service Providers and governmental agencies. Intelsat’s satellite, teleport and fiber infrastructure is unmatched in the industry, setting the standard for transmissions of video, data and voice services. From the globalization of content and the proliferation of HD, to the expansion of cellular networks and broadband access, with Intelsat, advanced communications anywhere in the world are closer, by far.
