Intelsat Provides DTH to the American Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS)
London, UK, 03 September 2002 – Intelsat, working with ARTEL, Inc, the
business solutions provider, is delivering satellite direct-to-home (DTH)
services through the AFRTS to individuals living in more than 15,000
households in Korea and Japan.
Intelsat’s solution enables AFRTS to deliver four distinct services on six
television channels, a program guide and 11 radio programming services
through the American Forces Network (AFN), a worldwide radio and broadcast
network, to keep Americans outside the U.S. informed of current events. The
radio stations include a primary news, talk and sports channel that
broadcasts over 500 live professional and collegiate sports each year, seven
music stations, Fox Sports Plus and ESPN Sport Plus. The television
channels include a wide selection of the network and cable programming that
is seen daily in the U.S.
“We specifically asked for Intelsat type capacity for this solution because
of their strong regional coverage and high reliability,” said Andreas
Friedrich, Chief of Plans, Policy and Operations for AFRTS. “The quality of
the Intelsat signal is excellent and exceeded expectations during the trial
phase. We are planning to expand to six distinct TV services during the
next few years.”
Abbas Yazdani, ARTEL, Inc. President & CEO, stated, “ARTEL and Intelsat
demonstrated that, working together, we could provide the best broadcast
quality for AFRTS’ specific DTH needs. This network serves as a great
example of how we strive to continually exceed the expectations and evolving
needs of broadcasters around the world.”
“The Intelsat 802 not only sends powerful and clear DTH signals, but allows
the AFRTS to use antennas as small as 60 centimeters,” added Malcolm
Campbell, Intelsat Vice President of Global Sales & Customer Support. “This
is a good example of Intelsat’s ability to serve the communications-specific
needs of government entities around the world.”
AFRTS also utilizes three other Intelsat satellites to distribute AFN and
Direct-to-Sailor (DTS) services to Americans located throughout the world.
About Intelsat
Intelsat, Ltd. offers telephony, corporate network, video and Internet
solutions around the globe via capacity on 24 geosynchronous satellites in
prime orbital locations. Customers in approximately 200 countries and
territories rely on Intelsat satellites and staff for quality connections,
global reach and reliability. For more information, visit www.intelsat.com.
