MultiChoice, the South African DTH television provider, has selected Intelsat to support its mobile broadcast TV trial in the metropolitan areas of Johannesburg, Soweto, Pretoria and Cape Town. The trial seeks to refine the transmission of Digital Video Broadcasting to Handheld (DVB-H) technology as well as understand more about the viewing patterns and content preferences of subscribers for mobile TV.
From its headquarters in Randburg, South Africa, MultiChoice is uplinking 10 to 12 trial channels of sports, entertainment, news, music and specially developed “made for mobile” content to Intelsat’s IS-902 satellite, which then distributes the content to multiple terrestrial transmitter sites throughout the trial region.
“MultiChoice has always been at the forefront of technological developments, and though mobile broadcast TV is in its infancy, we believe that there will be a growing demand for it in South Africa in the near future; especially in light of the 2010 World Cup,” said Gerdus van Eeden, MultiChoice Chief Technology Officer. “Intelsat has long partnered with us in the expansion of our services, and we are confident that its network will continue to support us as we develop our mobile TV platform.”
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