Asia Broadcast Satellite Signs A Multi-year Broadcast Solution Agreement With FOX International Channels
Hong Kong, 14 June 2013 – Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) and FOX International Channels Philippines Corporation (FIC) announced that they have signed a multi-year and multi-million dollar contract agreement for MCPC services, playout and satellite capacity on ABS-1 and ABS-2 satellites. This service will start second half of 2013 on ABS-1 satellite and will transition to ABS-2 after it is launched later this year.
ABS has made a significant investment on the ground infrastructure and in the installation of digital television playout facilities in Subic Bay, Philippines as well as Hong Kong. ABS is able to support FIC’s playout requirements with the most advanced automation systems, playout servers, encoders, multiplexing and encryption systems in the industry. The Subic Bay facility was enhanced with its services specifically tailored to support FIC’s Philippines operations. FIC signals will be relayed to ABS’ Subic Bay teleport where the channels will be uplinked to ABS-1 satellite. ABS will provide a comprehensive integrated broadcast 24 x 7 solution for FIC.
FIC is Asia’s leading pay-TV operator and is at the head of the industry in terms of localization efforts. The international broadcaster believes in customizing channels for local audiences and localizing its playout for its channels and feeds in the Philippines is in line with that strategy.
“Asia is not one market but rather a diverse region with many countries, each with their own tastes and preferences when it comes to TV viewing,” says Jude Turcuato, General Manager of FOX International Channels Philippines. “Through this partnership with ABS I’m pleased that we can now further tailor our channels to suit Filipino viewers and service them even better.”
“ABS is very excited to collaborate with FIC, Asia’s leading pay-TV operator with our premier Asian platform at 75°E on ABS-1 and with pre-commitments on ABS-2. Philippines is an emerging broadcasting market in South East Asia and we see there will be more players looking at developing localized feed for the Philippines for their channels,” said Tom Choi, CEO of ABS. “With our local presence here in the Philippines, the Subic Bay teleport is well positioned to serve customers with a richer portfolio of innovated solutions that will help them to access satellite capacity and customized tailored solutions. Our strong value proposition and excellent coverage make ABS an ideal choice for HD and SD channel operators.”
About Asia Broadcast Satellite
Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) is one of the fastest growing premium satellite operators in the world. ABS offers a complete range of tailored solutions including broadcasting, cellular backhaul, VSAT and Internet backbone services with diverse IP transit through its Asian, African, European and the Middle East internet gateways. ABS’ satellite fleet includes four satellites (ABS-1, ABS-1A, ABS-3 and ABS-7) with its fifth satellite (ABS-2) scheduled to launch 2H 2013. The ABS-2 satellite will be located in geostationary orbit at 75˚East. Fitted with up to 89 active C, Ku, and Ka-band transponders, it will provide optimized direct TV broadcast, multimedia applications, telecommunications and data transmission services for Asia Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Russia/CIS countries.
ABS has also ordered two new Boeing 720SP satellites with the options to add more satellites over the next 2-3 years to its growing satellite fleet.
For more information, visit www.absatellite.com
About FOX International Channels
FOX International Channels (FIC) is News Corporation’s international multi-media business. We develop, produce and distribute 350 wholly- and majority-owned entertainment, factual, sports and movie channels across Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa, in 37 languages. These networks and their related mobile, non-linear and high-definition extensions reach over 1.1 billion households worldwide. We also operate a global online advertising unit .FOX (“dot-fox”) specialized in online video and display, and four TV production houses.
In Asia, FIC operates or distributes 37 channel brands, including the FOX, STAR and National Geographic brands, with over 100 feeds across 14 markets, As the leading pay-TV network in the region, FIC reaches more than 550 million cumulative subscribers across Asia Pacific and the Middle East with offices in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Australia, New Zealand and the UAE.
For more information, please visit www.foxinternationalchannels.com
