Tweet

ESPN To Pull Down MPEG-2 Feeds On June 30

Sports Programmer Says 98% of Affiliates Have Signed On to Receive MPEG-4

By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 5/25/2011 3:37:09 PM

Looking to cut down on satellite transit costs, ESPN is converting to all MPEG-4 distribution effective June 30 -- dropping the four MPEG-2 simulcasts of its HD services to become one of the first programmers to phase out the older compression format altogether.

The sports programmer said 98% of affiliates have signed on for the switchover at this point and expects all of those to be equipped before the June 30 deadline.

Video encoded in MPEG-4 requires roughly half the bandwidth as MPEG-2. But most set-top boxes currently deployed by cable operators are capable of decoding only MPEG-2, which means ESPN's cable affiliates must install receivers that can automatically transcode the video into MPEG-2 for delivery over the cable plant.

ESPN is supplying Motorola DSR-6100 integrated receiver/decoders to eligible affiliates, which provides HD outputs in MPEG-4 or MPEG-2 and a downconverted SD output is provided in MPEG-2.

Currently the Motorola IRDs are live and being used with 40% of affiliate sites, according to Lori LeBas, senior vice president of strategy and business operations for Disney and ESPN Affiliate Sales and Marketing.

All of ESPN's HD services now are delivered in MPEG-4 over satellite, including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNews and ESPN Deportes.

ESPN began the transition in July 2010 by converting systems previously using analog VideoCipher II for ESPN and ESPN2 located on Intelsat's Galaxy 14 satellite. Through Motorola, the programmer began distributing the new IRDs to cable affiliates in March 2011.

Other programmers have introduced MPEG-4 feeds, including HBO, Showtime Networks, Starz Entertainment, MTV Networks and Turner Broadcasting System. However, they have continued to offer most of their services in MPEG-2, particularly SD versions, for cable affiliates.

Tweet

Talkback

We would love your feedback!

Post a comment

» View All Talkback Threads

Related Content

• Topics
• Author

No related content found.

Also by this author

• Cable Show 2012: Stanford Team Wins 'App Challenge' With Bandwidth-Priority System

• Cable Show 2012: Cablevision's HTML5 Guide Plays On LG, Samsung Smart TVs

• Cable Show 2012: Motorola Envisions 'Whole-World DVR'

• Cable Show 2012: Comcast To Unleash Free Phone Calling Over Wi-Fi

• Google Completes $12.5 Billion Takeover Of Motorola Mobility

More >>>

• Resource Center
• Browse Categories
• Browse Companies

Featured Company

• Telestream

  

  Telestream products are used by the world's leading media and entertainment companies and corporations for transcoding and workflow automation. Telestream helps customers transform their media for multiplatform distribution to web, mobile, DVD, cable VOD, podcast and broadcast pl..more

---

Most Recent Resources

• The New Normal for Promoting Tune-in
• Infrastructure Design for High Volume Video Workflows
• Improving the Internet TV and Mobile Video Experience – an Adap..
• Increasing Efficiency in Digital Distribution of Media
• The Local Origination/Leased Access Metamorphosis