CMC Bolsters Channel Lineup
Last week the Comcast Media Center announced the addition of 23 channels, lifting the CMC’s offering of digital video and audio services to more than 200 channels.
The most recent additions to the service, which is designed to facilitate the cable industry’s migration to an all-digital platform, include 10 channel feeds from NBC Universal (Bravo East & West, CNBC, MSNBC, SCI FI Channel East & West, Shop NBC, USA Network East & West and Universal HD); eight channel feeds for Viacom-owned networks (MTV Networks’ CMT, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Spike TV and VH1, and BET Networks’ East & West Coast feeds for BET); two Disney-ABC Television Group channel feeds (Disney Channel and ABC Family); GSN: The Network for Games; Scripps Networks‘ DIY Network, and Hallmark Movie Channel.
The 23 channels, which will travel aboard SES Americom‘s 50-state AMC-4 satellite, bring to 54 the total number of east and west coast feeds for widely carried cable TV networks that have been added to the CMC’s HITS platform of more than 150 digital video and audio services.
"As the addition of these widely carried basic and expanded basic channels illustrates, HITS has made a quantum leap from its launch 12 years ago with respect to programming as well as in our technology upgrades," said Gary Traver, COO of Comcast Media Center, in a press release. "One of the great advantages of the HITS solution, thanks to the participation of over 400 cable MSO affiliates, is our ability to address emerging needs such as the migration to all-digital, through centralized investments in digital technology that can be passed along at a fraction of what it would cost each of our affiliates on a standalone basis."
The CMC’s all-digital platform features secured authorization, optimized DPI triggers, and high-quality video and audio. In addition to enhancing the programming options available via HITS, the CMC has made numerous technical enhancements to the all-digital platform, including upgrading to fifth-generation encoders, in order to provide a high-quality and cost-effective alternative for launching all-digital simulcasts or migrating selected channels from analog to digital. The CMC also supports earlier generations of digital video technology, such as 64-QAM, while adopting newer technologies. – Mike Robuck
