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Harmonic (News - Alert), a provider of interactive video, voice and data services over cable, telecom, satellite, wireless and terrestrial broadcast networks, today announced that SKY Italia, a wholly owned subsidiary of News Corporation, deployed Harmonic’s compression and IP-based statistical multiplexing solutions for its direct broadcast satellite (DBS) service.

 

Harmonic’s compression solutions are deployed by seven of the 10 largest satellite providers in the world, according to the company. Harmonic’s solutions offer a more bandwidth-efficient solution to SKY Italia to meet the increasing demand of the high-definition (HD) video capabilities, company officials say.

 

SKY Italia, a pay-TV owned by News Corporation Limited, is the fifth largest satellite provider in the world, serving 4.5 million subscribers worldwide, company officials say. Harmonic will provide its head-end architecture, including DiviCom Electra 1000 standard definition (SD) MPEG-2 encoders, the ProStream stream processing platform with DiviTrackIP distributed statistical multiplexing, and NMX Digital Service Manager to SKY Italia, according to the company.

 

“The ability to geographically distribute our infrastructure across multiple sites, connected by IP, was a key requirement for our new digital head-end,” said Massimo Bertolotti, compression and transmission manager of SKY Italia. “Harmonic is the clear leader in IP-based compression and statistical multiplexing. Not only can they deliver a solution that enables this critical level of flexibility, they also deliver superior video quality, lower bit-rates and excellent reliability with the Electra encoders.”

According to Jean-Christophe Morizur, director of Digital Video Product Marketing at Harmonic, satellite operators demand superior performance and video quality for a competitive and compelling video service. He said, “With the improved efficiencies and performance of the new head-end, SKY Italia can improve their service offering and enhance revenues. In addition, SKY Italia’s selection of the Electra encoders and DiviTrackIP statistical multiplexing are a reflection of Harmonic’s leadership in high quality video delivery solutions for the satellite market.”

Apart from the compression solutions offered to SKY Italia, Harmonic’s portfolio includes the Electra 7000 HD and Electra 5400 SD MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) encoders and the Ion multi-channel SD MPEG-2 and AVC encoders. These IP-based encoders can deliver up to four channels in one rack unit and give a dense, high performance solution that significantly reduces energy consumption, according to the company.