TANDBERG Television (News - Alert), part of Ericsson Group, today announced that it’s upgrading the satellite head-end system of Korea Digital Satellite Broadcasting Co. Ltd., a product recognized under the “SkyLife” brand name.

 

Korea’s only satellite broadcast operator, SkyLife is said to be at the forefront of the country’s television landscape. The company says that it is aiming to offer more channels and improve advanced services to its subscribers.

 

The upgraded MPEG-4 AVC system is expected to enable SkyLife to expand its high definition TV services, company officials say. SkyLife officials said that their company selected TANDBERG Television’s advanced solutions because they meet the operator’s needs today and provide a flexible platform for the future.

 

Under its agreement, TANDBERG Television will provide SkyLife with head-end equipment, including the next-generation EN8090 MPEG-4 AVC high definition encoder, company officials say. The device enables an increased number of HDTV channels to be distributed over SkyLife’s satellite network.

 

Also, TANDBERG E5770 encoders will provide the standard definition (SD) MPEG-2 real-time encoding, company officials say. Officials at the company also say TANDBERG will provide its RX1290 Multi-Format Professional Receivers, which are able to receive both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 AVC HD and SD services, and SM6600 series satellite modulators.

 

Finally, TANDBERG Television officials say, they’ll supply their nCompass Control management system for configuration, system monitoring and redundancy.

 

Sung Yong Woo, chief technical officer at SkyLife, said that as Korea’s only satellite broadcaster, the company continually seeking to provide enhanced, next-generation services to the subscribers.

 

“Increasing the number of HD channels enables us to improve our offering and provide an even greater consumer experience,” Woo said. “We are pleased to have furthered our relationship with TANDBERG Television in order to achieve this goal,” said Sung Yong, adding that the company’s vast industry experience and expertise has enabled the company to seamlessly upgrade the head-end system to roll out more advanced services across our network.

 

Dario Choi, vice president and general manager at TANDBERG Television Asia Pacific, said, “As SkyLife grows and develops its service offering, it recognizes that TANDBERG Television’s next-generation advanced solutions can enable it to achieve this progression.”

 

He also said, having already provided SkyLife with HD encoding equipment in the past, “We are now pleased to be fully upgrading its MPEG-4 AVC head-end system to increase the amount of channels it can provide on limited satellite bandwidth.”