Arqiva to distribute and transmit Fives analogue terrestrial TV channel
New digital satellite-based distribution network to be commissioned
New uplink facility at Chalfont Grove
Arqiva today announced that Five has renewed its existing ten-year distribution and transmission management contract. The extension to the contract will see Arqiva manage Fives distribution and analogue transmission through to the closure of analogue TV.
Arqivas end-to-end solution distributes the signals to transmitters via satellite. As part of the renewal agreement Arqiva will re-engineer the existing distribution network to gain from improvements in compression technology and will distribute commercial regional variants of Five continuously on two separate satellites. A new uplink facility will be built at Arqivas Chalfont Grove site to complement the existing uplink in Winchester.
David Burge, Controller of Broadcasting, Five commented, It is important for us to ensure an extremely reliable distribution network in the run-up to Digital Switchover and, as Arqiva built and installed our uplink and transmitter system for our launch ten years ago, were confident that they can provide us with the service and expertise needed to achieve this.
Steve Holebrook, Arqivas managing director of Terrestrial Media Solutions, said, Were delighted to continue working with Five. Our one-stop shop solution delivers a reliable and cost-effective satellite digital distribution system to complement the existing nationwide network of analogue TV transmitters. The new satellite network will also provide additional levels of resilience to protect Fives regional advertising.