Mipcom 2009 – Cannes. The Swiss-based live music channel i-concerts has announced partnership deals with Eutelsat Communications and YouTube.
The i-concerts carriage agreements with both companies are effective from mid-October 2009.
The 24/7 HD live music channel i-concerts will be carried on Eutelsat’s Eurobird 9A satellite (9 degrees East) covering Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.
This satellite uplink will make i-concerts’ HD feed available to a broad range of operators and enable them to offer the channel as part of their HDTV packages. Launched in 2006, i-concerts HD channel has until now broadcast exclusively via digital cable and IPTV networks in France, Switzerland and Belgium.
DU Telecom in the Middle East will become the first international operator to feature i-concerts’ HD channel for its bouquet in October, with several European operators to follow later in the autumn.
i-concerts will also launch a channel on YouTube with hundreds of free HD quality concert excerpts, as well as backstage and festival footage. The i-concerts YouTube channel will use YouTube’s Content ID technology to ensure copyright protection of its contents.
“Satellite and Internet might seem like two different worlds. To us, however, they are two complementary poles that will enable i-concerts to grow as a global brand. We are thrilled to be working with the best company in each domain,” said Natalia Tsarkova, CEO, i-concerts, in a statement.
