Soon to be IPTV operator

[smiley2billion]

Hello everyone.

I work for a small utility company in Kentucky that has decided that we're going to be launching a new Cable TV service that's going to be 100% IPTV.

I am going to be the one in charge of this operation, so I'm going to have a large amount of responsibility on my hands.

I'm assuming there are people here who currently operate cable TV headends so I'm posting asking if anyone has any experience with operating an IPTV deployment.

Since we're a new startup, we're not going to be integrating IPTV on top of an existing system, instead, we're running fiber to the home all over our city to offer internet, phone and IPTV. I've only just recently started getting bids on actually building a headend for this system. Currently, we're looking at building our own earth station with 4 to 6 4.5m dishes to catch all our programming and then encapsulate that in to IPTV to serve to our customers. We're not going to have an analog tier, so everyone will be required to have a set top box, much like Direct or Dish customers.

While I've got a good grasp on what all is involved in rolling out a service like this I'd love to hear experiences from other people who are currently working, or have worked in a cable TV headend. I'm extremely interested in hearing about IPTV set top boxes as there's so many varying stories out there about which ones work better than others.

Also, if anyone has any experience with a Simulsat and the smaller 4.5m dishes please share! The decision hasn't been made yet as to which solution we're going to use to catch our programming from the sky and I keep hearing conflicting reports about which one is "better".

Thanks so much.

 

[smiley2billion]

Also, if there's another forum for Cable TV / Headend operators please point me to there, as I didn't see one specific to that topic.

Thanks again!

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Its going to take a lot of work, you cant just grab sgnals out of the air and rebroadcast them. You are going to need contracts with each channel. You try grabbing signals out of the air and putting them on your system without permission and you could be spending a long time in prision.

Best bet is to look into HITS (www.hits.com) or VIPTV (Echostar ViP-TV - Home)

Both options can give you a turnkey solution and takes care of all the contract headaches with the programmers.

For Each solution you will be able to get away with a simple C Band dish.

Please let us know how you make out, it would be interesting to see a new cable system be formed.

 

[smiley2billion]

The contracts are already in the works.

We're going to be using NRTC for most our programming with a few that they don't carry being directly contracted by us.

We looked at HITS and decided that we wanted more control over our channel offering, since there were already quite a few channels that no HITS solution could carry (HBO being the strongest example).

 

[smiley2billion]

I should also mention that I know the NRTC partners with Avail to do transport for those who don't want to build their own full headend (they used to partner with SES Americom and their IP Prime service but it has since went under, leaving a lot of providers in the dark, these type situations led us away from a transport solution.) We looked strongly at going with this option, but in the end the transport fees turned out to be a little higher than what we wanted to pay, thus, we're going to build out our own full headend. If you look at the cost of building a HITS type headend vs. just catching all the programming yourself it's not that much of a difference (a few hundred thousand dollars in a multimillion dollar project).

 

[ECUPirates]

I would check out Greenlight in Wilson, NC. They are a TV provider that is operated by the City of Wilson to compete with TWC.

My parents have it, and they are happy with it.

Greenlight: Cable, Internet and Phone Service for Wilson, North Carolina

 

[smiley2billion]

Bumping this very old thread to say that we're finally getting around to launching after many delays.

Here's an image of our simulsat being installed:

imgur: the simple image sharer

 

[navychop]

Do you drink? Yet?


Just for fun, if you ever decom that dish, point it at a neighbor.......

 

[bdvd63]

Are you with Mountain Telephone in West Liberty KY ?

I have below listed 29 channels that I notice you do not carry that DirecTV does AND that you NEED to carry so you can get more customers because most of these that you lack are deal breakers that would make me and most not join IPTV.

-HD
=TONS OF THEM


-LOCALS
=WOBZ - MY RETRO TV


-ETC
=AMC
=BLOOMBERG TV
=DOCUMENTARY CHANNEL
=E!
=FOX BUISNESS CHANNEL
=FREE SPEECH TV
=FUSE
=GMC
=GSN
=MSNBC
=NAT GEO WILD
=NASA
=OVATION TV
=PBS KIDS SPROUT
=REELZ
=RESORT & RESIDENCE TV
=STYLE
=TV GUIDE CHANNEL
=TV ONE
=WE
=WGN AMERICA


-SPORTS
=FUEL TV
=GOLF CHANNEL
=MLB
=NFL
=NHL
=SPORTSMAN CHANNEL
=TENNIS CHANNEL
=VERSUS
______________________________________________________

The List below are channels that DirecTV does not carry and would be great for you to carry and beat DirecTV in the content race.


-ARTS
=CLASSIC ARTS SHOWCASE
=COLOURS


-ANIMATION
=FUNIMATION


-ETC
=ALN
=BLUE HIGHWAYS TV
=CREATE
=ENTERTAINMENT STUDIOS NETWORKS
CARS.TV
COMEDY.TV
ES.TV
MYDESTINATION.TV
PETS.TV
RECIPE.TV
=FAMILYNET
=FASHION TV
=G4
=HALOGEN TV
=HERE!
=SUPERSTATIONS
KTLA - LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA
KWGN - DENVER, COLORADO
WPIX - NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK
WSBK - BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
WWOR - NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK
=THE AFRICA CHANNEL
=TUFF TV
=VERIA TV
=WEALTH TV
=WEDDING CENTRAL


-MOVIE
=CINEMAX
@ MAX
5 STAR MAX
ACTION MAX
OUTER MAX
THRILLER MAX
W MAX
=EPIX
1
2
3
=FEARNET
=HBO
COMEDY
=PIXL
=SHOWTIME
FAMILY ZONE
=SHORTS


-MUSIC
=EYE MUSIC NETWORK
=HARMONY CHANNEL
=MTV
U
=SOUNDTRACK CHANNEL


-NEWS
=BBC WORLD NEWS
=EURONEWS


-PUBLIC INTEREST
=GOOD SAMARITAN NETWORK
=PENTAGON CHANNEL
=STARFISH TV NETWORK


-SPORTS
=BLACKBELT TV
=MAVTV
=THE AMERICA CHANNEL
=THE FIGHT NETWORK
=THE HORSETV CHANNEL
=THE RACING NETWORK
=UNIVERSAL SPORTS
=UNTAMED SPORTS TV
=WATER CHANNEL
=WORLD FISHING NETWORK

ALSO, when it comes to DVR's trry getting TIVO service on them because they make the DVR experience more than a plain DVR

PM me with any response and/or here