GlobeCast, a leading content management and delivery company, and NEOTION, a high-tech company focused on digital TV and MPEG-4 related technologies, announce a strategic Agreement to offer turnkey MPEG-4 AVC satellite distribution platforms. The primary objective is to enable unprecedented transmission cost-efficiency for broadcasters, while using NEOTIONs patented MPEG-4 Pocket Decoder Technology, that is ideally tailored to address the issue of viewers with legacy equipment.
GlobeCast, a subsidiary of France Telecom, anticipates the roll out from 2006 onwards of numerous newer generation secured platforms in Europe where MPEG-4 is gaining tremendous momentum. Furthermore, GlobeCast will be capable of delivering TV channels to the MPEG-4 platforms over its global transmission network that includes 15 teleports and technical operations centers on five continents, as well as via a global ATM fiber ring that interconnects GlobeCasts facilities worldwide.
At the other side of this turnkey solution is the NEOTION Pocket decoder, a credit card sized MPEG-4 decoder that can take advantage, in a real plug & play mode, of the millions of DVB-CI legacy MPEG-2 set-top boxes already deployed. Beyond upgrading those digital receivers with the best-of-breed codec technology available today, it will also feature advanced conditional access capabilities and support.
The genuine combination of GlobeCasts MPEG-4 AVC distribution platforms, alongside with NEOTIONs plug-n-play MPEG-4 Pocket Decoders, opens a wide scope of benefits for TV operators, including: Pure Home Cinema DVD quality at a very low bit rate; unbeatable cost optimization for worldwide TV coverage; affordable Direct To Home transmission costs for new Digital TV market entrants; efficient VOD both in streaming and push modes.
Through this joint MPEG-4 AVC offer, GlobeCast and NEOTION will make a significant contribution to the evolving digital television industry. For the first time, a new service will enable audiences to receive better quality sound and images, as well as an increased choice in the number of channels whilst addressing TV programmers priorities such as delivery costs, audience ratings and anti-piracy issues.
«Our NEOTION Processor 4 will be available through patented module and cartridge implementations readily compatible with millions of existing digital satellite receivers already deployed in consumer homes» commented Jean Yves Le Roux, President and Founder of NEOTION. « We were the first satellite services provider to implement MPEG-2 technology for our customers and we are very proud now to be the first to propose a complete MPEG-4 AVC solution with our partner NEOTION» concluded Christian Pinon, CEO of GlobeCast.