Dedicated to enabling even the smallest and remotest of telephone companies (telcos) to offer the triple play of video, voice and broadband, SES AMERICOM, an SES GLOBAL company announced the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) has signed a multi-year agreement to offer IPTV services to nearly one thousand independent and local telcos over SES AMERICOM's IP-PRIME distribution platform.

The centralized, satellite-delivered IPTV solution originates from SES AMERICOM's IPTV Broadcast Center in Vernon Valley, New Jersey, where high-end video programming and content is received, processed, and then transported by SES AMERICOM's AMC-9 satellite to authorized video hubs nationwide. The NRTC IPTV offering is an end-to-end solution to the IP set-top, which includes conditional access and middleware and greatly reduces headend and video operations and equipment costs.

IP-PRIME will enable small telcos to distribute hundreds of television channels to subscribers over the same DSL line that brings them voice and high-speed Internet access. NRTC member telephone companies in as many as four markets will begin trials of IP-PRIME in January. A full NRTC commercial launch of IPTV aboard the IP-PRIME platform is scheduled for the second quarter of 2006.

"SES AMERICOM's IP-PRIME represents an exciting, first-of-its-kind development in IPTV deployments, as we work with the NRTC to offer broadband television to tens of millions of people from coast to coast," said Bryan McGuirk, president of media solutions for SES AMERICOM. "Rural and regional telephone companies of all sizes can accelerate their IPTV initiatives by months and years with IP-PRIME, a reliable and secure satellite-delivered solution that bypasses extensive and expensive fiber installations and offers an immediate path to IP television."

"With our proven track record in satellite television distribution spanning nearly 20 years, NRTC is well positioned to help our members provide this innovative new service, allowing them to remain a viable competitor as they start to engage in the delivery of entertainment and information to the communities they serve," said Bob Phillips, NRTC's president and CEO.

Both SES AMERICOM and NRTC are in the process of formalizing IP-PRIME content distribution rights agreements with all of the major producers and providers of leading networks and programming.

SES AMERICOM's extensive experience in programming distribution, for cable operators, programmers, and broadcasters, enables the largest satellite-based distribution services provider in the U.S. to offer the NRTC and other telcos a proven platform to deliver the powerful and elusive triple play of video, voice and broadband.