Over 15 cable providers now testing the SES Ultra HD platform, with some on verge of launching historic consumer Ultra HD services

LUXEMBOURG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SES S.A. (Euronext Paris:SESG) (LuxX:SESG) today announced that six more U.S. cable operators have joined its successful Ultra HD trials, while some of the first cable providers to participate are nearing the historic launch of consumer Ultra HD packages across the country.A new wave of Ultra HD trial agreements have been signed with cable operators from coast to coast, including Aureon in Iowa, GVTC Communications in Texas, Highlands Cable Group in North Carolina, KPU Telecommunications in Alaska, Service Electric in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and Shrewsbury Community Cable in Massachusetts.

Over 15 cable operators and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs), with a combined audience of over seven million subscribers, are currently testing 4K content delivery across SES’s fully-managed, pre-packaged Ultra HD platform. The platform offers the largest Ultra HD programming lineup, together with satellite distribution services and reception gear.

“Our SES Ultra HD solution is on course to enable live and linear Ultra HD delivery to homes in half the time it took HD to reach the same television milestone across the U.S.,” noted Steve Corda, Vice President of Business Development in North America for SES. “Cable operators have been extremely impressed with how easy it is to implement our pre-packaged Ultra HD solution across their networks. By leveraging the scalability and reliability of satellite, SES has greatly accelerated the delivery of Ultra HD to homes throughout North America. Some of the first cable operators to join our Ultra HD trials early last year are now on the verge of launching the very first consumer Ultra HD packages in the U.S.”

“KPU TV has initiated its first Ultra HD trials with SES, firmly committed to being the first to offer the best 4K Ultra HD services to our customers throughout Ketchikan, Alaska,” said Jeff Hendrickson, Video Headend Technician, KPU Telecommunications. “Sales of 4K Ultra HD TVs have increased dramatically across the community, and so have customer requests for great Ultra HD content.”

“Our Ultra HD trials with SES are at the center of our 4K strategy as we ready for the launch of Ultra HD services to our customers in the very near future,” explained Dennis Krumblis, Video Engineering Supervisor, GVTC. “Together with SES, GVTC is well positioned to make Ultra HD services an exciting game-changing reality for our business and our subscribers well ahead of schedule.”

“Ultra HD has now arrived in Massachusetts thanks to SES’s innovative solution that has allowed Shrewsbury Community Cable to leap to reliable and scalable technologies and accelerate our Ultra HD launch strategy,” said Jeffrey Black, Headend Systems Engineer for Shrewsbury Community Cable. “Together with SES, we’re not only in a position to better compete in the world of Ultra HD, we’re now able to lead the way.”

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About SES

SES is the world-leading satellite operator and the first to deliver a differentiated and scalable GEO-MEO offering worldwide, with more than 50 satellites in Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) and 12 in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO). SES focuses on value-added, end-to-end solutions in four key market verticals (Video, Enterprise, Mobility and Government). It provides satellite communications services to broadcasters, content and internet service providers, mobile and fixed network operators, governments and institutions, and businesses worldwide. SES’s portfolio includes the ASTRA satellite system, which has the largest Direct-to-Home (DTH) television reach in Europe, and O3b Networks, a global managed data communications service provider. Another SES subsidiary, MX1, is a leading media service provider and offers a full suite of innovative digital video and media services. Further information available at: www.ses.com