Asia-Pacific Broadcasting (APB) Satellie Special Supplement 2015 | Page 15

Satellite a key delivery platform in Asia-Pacific

Measat meets content delivery needs in Asia-Pacific – and more

While continuing to place emphasis on its direct-to-home ( DTH ) constellation in Asia-Pacific , Measat is also ready to help its customers deliver 4K Ultra HD content to homes in the region . Jarod Lopez , vice-president , Broadcast Sales , Measat Satellite Systems , reveals more to the APB Satellite Special .

Last September saw the launch of the

Measat-3b satellite , which Measat says will help to create the strongest directto-home ( DTH ) orbital slot in Asia-Pacific . Can you provide us with an update of

Measat-3b and how the planned launch of the Measat-3c and Measat-3d satellites will move Measat another step closer to creating this DTH orbital slot ? Jarod Lopez : Measat-3b was launched on 12 September 2014 . The satellite successfully completed in-orbit testing and has now been brought into commercial service .

Measat-3b is designed to be co-located with Measat-3 and Measat-3a at Measat ’ s 91.5 ° E orbital location . Equipped with a 48 Ku-band transponder payload , the satellite supports video and data services across Malaysia , India , Indonesia and Australia .

The satellite has added additional capacity to Measat ’ s core DTH hot slot and increased the amount of transponder redundancy at this location . With the

Measat-3 satellite constellation providing the core TV distribution platform for almost 20 million viewers across India , Malaysia and Indonesia , and with satellites providing a single point of failure , being able to provide capacity across three spacecraft is a significant advantage for our DTH partners .

The planned launch of Measat-3c and

Measat-3d in 2016 and 2019 respectively continues the development of the 91.5 ° E orbital location with additional capacity for existing customers . This would allow the DTH platforms to continue the transition of content from SD to HD to UHD as well as support additional services such as broadband data .

Why do you think DTH remains one of the most effective platforms to deliver content to audiences in Asia-Pacific ? Lopez : Satellites have a number of advantages compared to other forms of communication technologies . In particular : n A satellite footprint can be designed to cover a country or region as required . Its coverage would include remote or challenging terrain , which would consume too much time or effort to reach with other forms of distribution technology . n Satellite is cost-effective in that the cost of service is irrespective of the number of DTH subscribers or distance from broadcast stations to homes within the footprint . n Satellites are extremely reliable and designed with multiple redundancies to ensure high service availability , which is critical when addressing a large customer base .

For the markets in which Measat currently supports DTH platforms ( Malaysia , India and Indonesia ), satellites continue to provide the most effective distribution platform for the delivery of TV services . Given the geography of these countries , a population spread over wide areas , and patchy terrestrial communication infrastructure , this is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future .

2014 also saw Measat participate in a number of 4K UHDTV demonstrations across Asia-Pacific . When does Measat expect to carry its first 4K UHD channel in this region , and which technology trends or developments do you see as being key to 4K UHD taking off in Asia-Pacific ? Lopez : Technologically , the industry is already well positioned for UHDTV . Content production , delivery , management , storage and consumption concerns have been addressed with the rapid development of UHD standards , cameras , production equipment and TVs . Economic factors and consumer demand will likely have greater influence on how fast UHDTV takes off in Asia-Pacific .

Measat ’ s UHDTV demonstrations were undertaken to demonstrate that the Measat fleet is ready to distribute UHD content . We are already in discussion with a number of customers and are hopeful to be carrying the region ’ s first UHD regional feed towards end-2015 or early 2016 .

With 4K seemingly on the horizon , and with the region still in the midst of the

❝ As with HDTV , the media industry will have to decide on the best business model for UHDTV . A number of content owners have already begun producing UHD content , which should accelerate the take up of UHD content in the [ Asia-Pacific ] region .❞

— Jarod Lopez , Vice-President , Broadcast Sales , Measat Satellite Systems

transition to digital , as well as the evolving changes in content consumption , what challenges do you think are being faced by the media and broadcast industries in Asia-Pacific ? Lopez :: From the perspective of a satellite operator , the media and broadcast industries face a number of challenges .

Firstly , and crucially , the International Mobile Telecommunications ( IMT ) community is requesting C-band spectrum currently used by satellite operators to distribute video content to be reallocated for telecom services . This will be addressed in the World Radio Conference 2015 ( WRC-15 ). If the IMT community is successful in their plans , it will have a severe impact on not only the satellite industry , but also our customers in the media and broadcast industries .

A second challenge concerns the pay-TV business model , as consumers are increasingly demanding and wanting to view what they want , when they want it and where they want it . Given this , the current pay-TV landscape needs to address the growth of alternative delivery platforms with OTT ( over-the-top ) continuing to threaten to pull viewers away from traditional broadcast pay-TV .

A third challenge concerns the development of UHDTV . As with HDTV , the media industry will have to decide on the best business model for UHDTV . A number of content owners have already begun producing UHD content , which should accelerate the take-up of UHD content in the region .

The Measat-3 satellite constellation provides the core TV distribution platform for almost 20 million viewers across India , Malaysia and Indonesia , while Measat is ready to help its customers launch 4K UHD channels in Asia-Pacific .

An Supplement

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