Thaicom, one of the largest commercial satellite communication companies in the Asia-Pacific, has announced an agreement with MediaVision as part of the expansion of its broadcast platform in Africa.
The Thaicom-MediaVision agreement will utilise Thaicom’s MCPC broadcasting platform to broadcast MediaVision content from Europe via the THAICOM-6 satellite located at 78.5° East. As a result of the agreement international programmers will be able to access MediaVision’s integrated solutions for linear and non-linear content distribution, to include Internet Protocol Television (IPTV).
MediaVision is a Croatian-based company that specialises in content delivery and the provision of end-to-end solutions for the media and broadcasting industry.
“Thaicom and Mediavision are working together to deliver innovative broadcast solutions that enable programmers to cost-effectively expand their distribution network into Sub-Saharan Africa,” said Patompob (Nile) Suwansiri, Chief Commercial Officer with Thaicom. “Thaicom launched its MCPC broadcast platform for Africa in 2016. Now we will be able to provide European and international programmers with immediate access to the African market and TV households. Our African C-band MCPC platform on Thaicom-6 is ideal for broadcasters to enter the African market.”
“Our partnership with Thaicom provides European broadcasters with an integrated, end-to-end solution for content distribution via the Thaicom-6 satellite,” said Petrit Bhatijari, Chief Executive Officer at Mediavison. “The Thaicom MCPC platform on Thaicom-6 will enable European programmers who target Africa to develop their content distribution across Sub-Saharan Africa.”
Telespazio, the Italian-based company that is a joint venture between Leonardo and Thales, will provide uplink services for the agreement from its teleport located at Fucino, Italy, one of the largest and first teleports built exclusively for civilian use. Through MediaVision and via the Telespazio teleport at Fucino, broadcasters can offer standard definition (SD) and high definition (HD) programming for African audiences through the THAICOM-6 satellite, thanks to this agreement.
THAICOM-6, also called AfriCom-1, was built by Orbital Sciences Corporation (now part of Orbital ATK), and launched by SpaceX on a Falcon-9 launch vehicle in 2014.
