In today’s digital satellite news gathering market, there is a growing use of IP interfaces to accommodate the demand for HD video services and other high-bandwidth applications.  

 

To stand out in the crowd, a satellite provider needs to offer equipment that is reliable and flexible.  

 

“What customers are mainly looking for is flexibility,” said Slava Frayter (News - Alert), vice president, Americas, for Newtec, a Belgium-based provider of broadcast modulators and other satellite equipment. “The market is evolving today as never before. That evolution makes people take a look at equipment, and whether it’s future-proof. The investments they are making today will not be thrown away in two, three years. And this is what Newtec (News - Alert) can provide.”

 

Referring to his company’s flagship AZ110 broadcast modulator, Frayter said Newtec does a number of things to differentiate itself.

The company’s line of broadcast modulators come with optional RF upconverters and BISS scramblers; its modems and demodulators offer MPEG and IP capabilities. Other DSNG offerings include software (for reliable content delivery) and MENOS DSNG terminals. Newtec’s broadcast modulation products are based on the DVB-DSNG standard (which uses a modulation technology Newtec said it invented) and the newer DVB-S2 standard, which started gaining traction in 2005.

“The Newtec modulator can effectively support DVB-S and DVB-S2 standards, so the customer has the choice and full flexibility to the product he buys,” Frayter told TMCnet, adding that DVB-S2 technology enables HD delivery and allows content to be distributed more efficiently.   

 

To date, Netwtec equipment is used by all major networks in the fixed environment as well as with DSNGs, Frayter said. Additionally, a growing number of independent DSNG companies are choosing Newtec’s equipment to do HD transmissions.

 

“We’ve made enormous progress in the last two years,” Frayter told TMCnet. “The reliability of our equipment has always been there.”