Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ:HLIT) today announced that Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), a broadcaster serving more than 12,500 television and cable affiliates worldwide via 54 satellites, has deployed Harmonic’s DiviCom® MV 500 high definition (HD) and MV 100 standard definition (SD) encoders and DiviTrack™ statistical multiplexing for its MPEG-2 satellite program distribution. The new solution was implemented by TBC Integration, and replaces TBN’s analog satellite carrier architecture with a digital multiple channels per carrier (MCPC) system including one HD and six SD channels with redundancy.
The global distribution of TBN’s content required a compression solution that would be compatible with a wide range of DVB receivers as well as with cable operators’ networks in the United States and other countries. Harmonic’s encoders, preferred by many of the world’s leading broadcast, cable, satellite and telco operators, meet this requirement and also enable TBN to provide viewers with superior picture quality.
“Harmonic’s compression solution provides a higher level of bandwidth efficiency, quality and versatility to meet the needs of our operations,” said Ben Miller, Vice President of Engineering of TBN. “The ability to deliver an outstanding HD experience was particularly important as we worked with TBC Integration to design and roll out our new service. Harmonic’s encoders not only satisfy our needs for high quality at lower bit-rates, but also offer the best compatibility with various DVB receivers, which is critical for downlink sites around the world.”
“TBC Integration works with top solution providers to provide best-in-class network architectures for our broadcast and satellite customers,” said Sean Busby, Executive Vice President of TBC Integration. “Harmonic offers a superior HD, SD and statistical multiplexing solution, making it possible for us to enable customers such as TBN to successfully introduce advanced services that make their offering more compelling.”
Harmonic leads the industry in MPEG-2 bit-rate improvements with the MV 500 MPEG-2 HD encoder, a successful platform selected by more than 50 operators since its introduction in April 2006.
“Like many content providers, TBN is expanding its programming to add HD,” said Arnaud Perrier, Senior Manager of Encoder Product Marketing for Harmonic Inc. “The ability to provide an efficient and high quality real-time digital service is important to broadcasters, and leading operators such as TBN choose Harmonic’s proven and flexible encoding and statistical multiplexing solutions to provision their video services.”
TBN’s video delivery network is managed by Harmonic’s comprehensive and user-friendly network management system, NMX Digital Service Manager™. Harmonic offers a full range of market-leading encoders for operators of all types and sizes—in addition to the MV family of MPEG-2 solutions, the product portfolio includes the high performance Electra™ multi-service and multi-channel encoders for SD and HD compression in MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) and MPEG-2 formats, as well as the cost-effective Ion™ SD multi-channel encoders.
About Trinity Broadcast Network
TBN is the world's largest religious network and America's most watched faith network. Each day TBN offers 24 hours of commercial-free inspirational programming that appeals to people in a wide variety of denominations. Beginning in 1973 as a single UHF station in southern California, TBN now reaches every major continent via 54 satellites and more than 12,500 television and cable affiliates worldwide. In the United States, TBN is available to 92 percent of the total households. Its website receives more than 27 million visitors monthly. For more information on TBN, visit www.tbn.org.
About TBC Integration, Inc.
TBC Integration specializes in providing turnkey, leading edge MPEG-2/4/AVC digital video for live and store-and-forward DVB/DVB-S2/QAM satellite and terrestrial networks. Digital Glue, a division of TBC Integration, is an in-house consulting and rapid software development team specializing in content management and delivery products over an IP infrastructure. For more information on TBC Integration or Digital Glue please visit www.tbcintegration.com or www.digitalglue.com
About Harmonic Inc.
Harmonic Inc. is a leading provider of versatile and high performance video solutions that enable service providers to efficiently deliver the next generation of broadcast and on-demand services including high definition, video-on-demand, network personal video recording and time-shifted TV. Cable, satellite, broadcast and telecom service providers can increase revenues and lower operational expenditures by using Harmonic’s digital video, broadband optical access and software solutions to offer consumers the compelling and personalized viewing experience that is driving the business models of the future.
Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California with R&D, sales and system integration centers worldwide. The Company’s customers, including many of the world’s largest communications providers, deliver services in virtually every country. Visit www.harmonicinc.com for more information.