MLB Network To Launch Via Intelsat
Satellite Will Deliver Rookie Network’s Standard, HD Feeds
By Linda Moss -- Multichannel News, 11/20/2008 4:09:00 AM
MLB Network -- the new 24-hour cable network devoted to Major League Baseball and other baseball programming -- has signed a multi-year contract to use Intelsat to deliver its service, officials said Thursday.
MLB Network will be using capacity on Intelsat’s Galaxy 17 satellite, a leading cable distribution platform within Intelsat’s global fleet, located at 91º West. The capacity will be used to transmit standard and HDTV programming for MLB Network, which will launch in about 50 million U.S. cable and satellite homes Jan. 1.
The Galaxy 17 satellite is a part of Intelsat's North American Galaxy fleet, comprised of 16 other satellites that operate within the cable and broadcast communities in North America, Central America and the Caribbean.
“It’s very important to us that MLB Network reach as many baseball fans as possible,” Mark Haden, MLB Network’s vice president of engineering and IT, said in a prepared statement. “We chose Intelsat for our launch based on its heritage of resilient service and strategic market presence. Through this partnership, our fans will receive the ultimate in baseball coverage 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
Intelsat announced in September that Major League Baseball International signed a contract for international distribution of its season’s games and highlights to its broadcast rights-holders in Asia, Europe and Latin America. With the launch of the MLB Network via the Intelsat system, Intelsat’s platform will be transmitting baseball programming into four continents.
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