RRsat Signs Contract With Russia Today For Global Distribution Of RT HD Channels

[ikki]

RRsat Global Communications Network Ltd. (NASDAQ: RRST), a leading provider of comprehensive content management and global distribution services to the television and radio broadcasting industries, announced today that it has signed a contract with RT for the distribution of Russia Today English HD ("RT"), Russia Today Spanish ("RT") and Russia Today Documentary HD ("RTDoc") channels to the USA, Latin America and Asia. The service started on August 1[SUP]st[/SUP], 2012, and will expand the global distribution of the channels.
Using the extensive RRsat Global Network, the channels will be delivered by fiber to the RRsat Teleports, and from there uplinked to 3 major satellites, bringing the channels to millions of households through Cable Headends.

The prestigious RT America HD channel; RTDoc HD, the youngest RT channel broadcasting in-house produced documentaries, as well as the award winning Spanish version of the RT HD channel, will be distributed to the USA via Galaxy 23 satellite.

The RT Spanish HD channel will also be distributed via Intelsat 9 to Latin America, and both RT News HD and RTDoc HD channels will be distributed via MESAT 3A satellite to Asia.

"Russia Today is a highly valued, long term customer of our company. We have been serving RT for many years, and we are very proud they have chosen us again for expanding their global distribution", Lior Rival, VP Sales and Marketing of RRsat stated. "This agreement emphasizes the added value RRsat's customers gain from our end-to end solutions, from broadcasting through distribution, offering our customers to reach new countries, regions and continents."

"We are excited to partner up with RRSAT so that RT's programs can continue to expand its reach around the world. RT's fast growth over the last several years demonstrates just how much appetite there is for a news channel like ours, which can provide an alternative to the mainstream media," said RT's editor in chief Margarita Simonyan.
About RRsat Global Communications Network Ltd.

RRsat Global Communications Network Ltd. (NASDAQ: RRST) provides global, end-to-end, content management and distribution services to the rapidly expanding television and radio broadcasting industries, covering more than 150 countries. Through its RRsat Global Network, composed of satellite and terrestrial fiber optic capacity and the public Internet, RRsat provides high-quality and flexible global distribution services 24/7 to more than 630 channels reaching multiplatform operators, Internet TV and direct-to-home viewers worldwide and also offers occasional use services for sports, news and events with a fleet of flyaways and over 10 transportable satellite news gathering services (SNG) units. More than 130 television and radio channels use RRsat's advanced production and playout centers comprising comprehensive media asset management services. Visit the company's website http://www.rrsat.com

About RT

RT is a global multilingual television news network, broadcasting around-the-clock from Moscow and Washington, DC to more than 100 countries on five continents. With a global reach of over 550 million people - or 25% of all paid cable networks' subscribers - and more than two million hotel rooms worldwide, RT covers the major political, economic and cultural issues of the time for viewers wanting to question more. The best news reports, stories and programmes can be found on RT's YouTube channel, where the number of views has already exceeded 750 million, making RT the first TV news channel to break this record in YouTube's history and also making the network the largest provider of news video footage on this world's most popular video platform. According to official ratings by the UK's Broadcasters' Audience Research Board, RT is now the third most popular TV news channel in Great Britain after BBC News and Sky News, and scores higher viewership than other foreign news channels measured by BARB, including Al Jazeera English, Fox News and Euronews. Nielsen has found RT's audience in key U.S. cities to be bigger than that of other major international news channels including Euronews, France 24, Deutsche Welle, Al Jazeera English, NHK World and CCTV News. RT is the only Russian TV channel to be nominated twice for an International Emmy in the News category - in 2010 and 2012. RTDoc is a new English-language documentary channel launched by RT in 2011 and focused on documentary programs. The exclusive content of RTDoc is produced by RT's in-house team and has already received multiple industry awards.

Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/09/07/4243976/rrsat-signs-contract-with-russia.html#storylink=cpy

 

[ikki]

>The prestigious RT America HD channel; RTDoc HD, the youngest RT channel broadcasting in-house produced documentaries, as well as the award winning Spanish version of the RT HD channel, will be distributed to the USA via Galaxy 23 satellite.

Does that mean 97 West will be going away?

 

[chaskuchar]

3909h14399. nice pix. also rt doc hd . almost 70q but thats with the hd signals most of the time. still broadcasting trailer though on both channels. charlie

 

[Mr Tony]

Does that mean 97 West will be going away?

highly unlikely

 

[Tron]

RT in HD... Could be interesting for sure...

 

[Dee_Ann]

I'm trying to find RT HD on Galaxy 23 but I don't find it. All I can find is RT in Spanish in what appears to be an SD channel.

Did they drop the HD channels from G23 already? Sathint lists them as being on 3910/14400 1/2 - S2 and ITC. I did a detailed blind scan with my MicroHD and it's just not there.

Are they maybe somewhere else or is the HD stuff just gone altogether?

Thanks!

 

[Magic Static]

I scanned them in just now. That transponder is not near as strong as the one with the Spanish SD channel. They are there though

 

[T4Runner]

I'm trying to find RT HD on Galaxy 23 but I don't find it. All I can find is RT in Spanish in what appears to be an SD channel.

Did they drop the HD channels from G23 already? Sathint lists them as being on 3910/14400 1/2 - S2 and ITC. I did a detailed blind scan with my MicroHD and it's just not there.

Are they maybe somewhere else or is the HD stuff just gone altogether?

Thanks!

RT in Spanish is all there is for them. Sathint is out of date. Lyngsat shows the correct transponder 3900, V, 27684 for the rest of them. You must be getting all of them right?

I'm getting that transponder at 72% Quality on my 5ft solid and MicroHD.

 

[FaT Air]

3900 V is the SP version of RT that's been there all along.(France24 is also on that TP) So where are the HD channels, I don't see/get them?? I had them at 3910 H a few weeks ago, but today there's nothing on that TP. Did they change satellite?? Scrambled?? IDK.

 

[Dee_Ann]

I found about 42 channels on G23.

I get several Chinese channels, a French channel or two, several "fight" channels, RT Spanish, Texas Cable News, a Jewelry peddler in HD, a few other misc things and about half of them show as $crambled.

But RT Documentary is not showing up.

I'm surprised that Lyngsat is more up to date than Sathint.

I went to the RT America website and they have zero information about receiving their signals over FTA satellite, either C or KU, no information. They do tell you what PAY satellite providers carry it and a huge list of all the cable companies around the country but that's all.


I'm rescanning G23 on detailed blind scan today, I'll give it another go I suppose.

I think I've scanned almost everything between 87 and 121 which are the physical limits of my 10' dish. Trees are my enemy plus I'm afraid of a "flop over". I've set limit switches on it but I still don't trust it. I'm going to weave some garage door cables into it so that it's impossible to go too far, even if a hurricane hits it.

But anyway, if anyone knows where the High Def Russia Today Documentary channel might be hiding out, I would appreciate it, I like their documentaries as long as it's not about politics, like the nature stuff and about the people and travel. And to have them in HD would be really awesome..

Thanks!!

 

[turbosat]

dee-out of curiosity, I scanned 121W looking for it. It IS there, where the member in post#3 said. Its on opposite polarity from the Spanish RT channel that has been there awhile.
If you scan in the Sportsman channels, you should scan those RR-Sat provided signals. Right now they all seem to be in a 'coming soon' mode.
3911H 14399 DVB-S2 in H.264 video. And Dolby sound. Maybe they'll stay free, but I wouldn't bet on it.

 

[FaT Air]

I have them, once again, but considerably weaker than anything else on the sat. Q bouncing 37 to 68 compared to a solid 75Q on 3900 V

 

[pickone4me]

I found about 42 channels on G23.

I get several Chinese channels, a French channel or two, several "fight" channels, RT Spanish, Texas Cable News, a Jewelry peddler in HD, a few other misc things and about half of them show as $crambled.

But RT Documentary is not showing up.

I'm surprised that Lyngsat is more up to date than Sathint.

I went to the RT America website and they have zero information about receiving their signals over FTA satellite, either C or KU, no information. They do tell you what PAY satellite providers carry it and a huge list of all the cable companies around the country but that's all.


I'm rescanning G23 on detailed blind scan today, I'll give it another go I suppose.

I think I've scanned almost everything between 87 and 121 which are the physical limits of my 10' dish. Trees are my enemy plus I'm afraid of a "flop over". I've set limit switches on it but I still don't trust it. I'm going to weave some garage door cables into it so that it's impossible to go too far, even if a hurricane hits it.

But anyway, if anyone knows where the High Def Russia Today Documentary channel might be hiding out, I would appreciate it, I like their documentaries as long as it's not about politics, like the nature stuff and about the people and travel. And to have them in HD would be really awesome..

Thanks!!

I noticed that too. They don't seem to encourage FTA for USA, but if you click on other countries, satellites nss806 and galaxy 19 show up. I think in the near not so distant future RT will be encrypted.

 

[Xizer]

RT won't encrypt as long as cable providers continue their carriage blackout of the channel and all other foreign news media.

RT HD is not carried by a single American provider.

 

[Martyn]

I'd be surprised if RT encrypts. The channel's intention is to present Russia and Russia's view to the world, not to make money. Making people pay for that wouldn't be in its own interest.

As an aside, in the UK RT has managed to snag a 24-hour slot on one a terrestrial digital TV mux, so is available nationwide, 24-hours a day over an antenna. Al Jazeera has a prime-time only slot, but all the other news outlets are domestic: BBC News 24, Sky News, BBC Parliament.

 

[danristheman]

It would be on the same lines as the KTV 1,2,3 being encrypted they have enough money in that country to send out their signals they don't need to charge us. i like RT some of their Documentary are not that bad u ti am not a fan of their news.

Dan Rose

 

[turbosat]

RT won't encrypt as long as cable providers continue their carriage blackout of the channel and all other foreign news media.

RT HD is not carried by a single American provider.

Xizer, I don't know where you are getting your information, a google search reveals several documents to refute it, russia-briefing.com has a story from Oct 25, 2012:
in part :
Currently, 85 million people in the United States have access to the channel, according to ITAR-TASS. The channel got a boost in 2011 as it began to be carried by cable networks in San Francisco, Chicago, and Philadelphia, also joining the lineup for satellite provider Dish Network.

There may be some resistance to foreign news channels, but there appears to be quite an audience in the US for RT, and other foreign news broadcasts.

 

[Xizer]

Currently, 85 million people in the United States have access to the channel, according to ITAR-TASS. The channel got a boost in 2011 as it began to be carried by cable networks in San Francisco, Chicago, and Philadelphia, also joining the lineup for satellite provider Dish Network.

There may be some resistance to foreign news channels, but there appears to be quite an audience in the US for RT, and other foreign news broadcasts.

"Have access" is not the same as "are subscribed." They could subscribe, sure, but you often have to subscribe to a little known, niche, expensive "international" package.

It is also buried away, far from where the casual viewer ever looks. Instead of being grouped in with the other "news" channels - CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News - where it would pose a real threat, channels like RT are hidden at insane numbers. RT is channel # 8084 on Dish Network.

Also, note that I didn't say RT wasn't carried by anyone - obviously, it is - I said that the high definition feed of RT isn't carried by anyone. And that is what we are discussing in this thread: whether or not the RT HD mux will be encrypted.

 

[Dee_Ann]

dee-out of curiosity, I scanned 121W looking for it. It IS there, where the member in post#3 said. Its on opposite polarity from the Spanish RT channel that has been there awhile.
If you scan in the Sportsman channels, you should scan those RR-Sat provided signals. Right now they all seem to be in a 'coming soon' mode.
3911H 14399 DVB-S2 in H.264 video. And Dolby sound. Maybe they'll stay free, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Thank you, I will try to find it later using your info when things settle out a little.

It would be on the same lines as the KTV 1,2,3 being encrypted they have enough money in that country to send out their signals they don't need to charge us. i like RT some of their Documentary are not that bad u ti am not a fan of their news.

Dan Rose

I don't much care for their news either but I really like their non-political documentaries. I like the nature stuff and the travel show, I think it's called "Exploring Russia with James Brown".

"Have access" is not the same as "are subscribed." They could subscribe, sure, but you often have to subscribe to a little known, niche, expensive "international" package.

It is also buried away, far from where the casual viewer ever looks. Instead of being grouped in with the other "news" channels - CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News - where it would pose a real threat, channels like RT are hidden at insane numbers. RT is channel # 8084 on Dish Network.

Also, note that I didn't say RT wasn't carried by anyone - obviously, it is - I said that the high definition feed of RT isn't carried by anyone. And that is what we are discussing in this thread: whether or not the RT HD mux will be encrypted.

RT is on Dish Network channel 280 in SD. It seems to be included in the basic packages and everything up. I looked at the AT120 and it's there. Then even the lowly "Smart Package". I have AT250 and it's been there since I began subscribing.

BUT, it's only in SD and the documentary channel is not there. That's the channel I really am interested in. The news, eh...

 

[mattb]

I find it interesting "Russia Today in Spanish" ... What would most Spanish speakers want to watch about Russia?