SISLink, which recently signed a deal to supply ITV Sport with satellite facilities for its Formula 1 race coverage over the next four years, hopes the deal will be a springboard for the company to make a real crack at the U.S. market.

The company, a large provider of satellite uplink services, is now ready to build on its position in Europe and expand overseas. David Meynell, managing director of SISLink, admits the biggest operational challenge facing the company will be going into new markets such as North America this year. Meynell said "we have a big opportunity in North America. Our technology has been well-received at [the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference] over the last couple of years. We have not been able to service that market, although we have had huge interest because we have been trying to cope with demand in the European marketplace. We have increased our infrastructure in the last year to cope with the demand in Europe and the [United Kingdom]. We are now looking at the [United States] as a real opportunity for us. We have a partner there in the U.S. At NAB this year, we will be making some announcements and we will be launching uPod (its automated uplink system) fully in the U.S."

However, despite putting the foundation in place to be successful in the U.S., Meynell is not expecting a slew of deals straightaway. He added "I think the deal flow in the U.S. will be relatively slow this year, as we will be looking at how we will manufacture the uPods for the U.S. market. Initially, it will have to come from the U.K., but then we will look at changing that. Although the deal flow will start relatively slowly, I think the demand will be high. We have to ramp-up very quickly to cope with that demand. So, we need time to get our in-region support sorted out. But, I believe that the demand will be very high."

The deal with ITV could be a springboard for what the company hopes will be a successful year. In terms of the significance of the ITV deal, Meynell said "it is a multi- million-pound contract over a number of years. It gives us an opportunity to showcase some of our technology that we produce and the services we offer. It is a very important contract for us. We already have a major contract with European Tour Productions for the European Golf Tour. We do various other sporting events and major events around Europe, as well as the world. It really showcases our ability to be the leading supplier of satellite services in Europe."

The deal with ITV sees the company building some of the most highly specified trucks it has ever built. Meynell said, "this truck is costing over GBP0.5 million ($982,330). Not only is the truck [high-definition (HD)] capable, but it is fully redundant in every single aspect. That includes two separate redundant [radio frequency] systems, including the antennas. It will have two 1.8 meter antennas onboard. It will have four high-power amplifiers onboard, and they can be switchable between each chain. It will have extensive audio and video monitoring. It also has a 22 KVa generator onboard, and also a UPS supply onboard. It has two completely separate supplies onboard for each chain. So, you can run one chain off a generator and one chain off a main supply, and have UPS running as well. So, if you lost the generator or the mains, the UPS would kick in. You should never be in the situation where you don’t have the ability to transmit 24/7 if required."

Other deals are very likely to soon follow. Meynell admitted "we are in the process of negotiating a couple of large contracts, two major news contracts, and also at looking at expanding into other regions such as North America, as I mentioned before. We are also rapidly expanding into Italy. We are providing uplink trucks for Sky Italia and negotiating with other major broadcasters in Italy at the moment. I think the time frame for one of the major deals will be very soon. I think we will be in a position to announce one this month. That is a major contract news contract in the U.K."

The company is expecting a healthy demand for its services this year, as broadcasters look to gain an edge in terms of content. It is also building two highly specified HD trucks to help broadcasters in this area. Meynell commented "we have just started to build those. They are very highly specified. Each truck [costs] just under 500,000 pounds ($981,770) to build. These will be highly capable, large-antenna, big power trucks with multi-path HD capabilities. They will have very extensive baseband capabilities onboard as well. We are really expanding the HD side of things. We have already got HD-capable trucks, but these will be by far the best we have got."

In fact, 2007 promises to be a very busy year for the company in terms of capital expenditure plans. Meynell outlines some of them, commenting "we have a new version of uPod, which is our automated uplink system. The new version is going to be available in 1.2 meter [and] 1.8 meter antenna, a full flyaway version with lightweight carbon fiber. If a broadcaster wants to take it abroad, this can be done and sent on an aircraft on standard luggage. Four flight cases, one carrying the antenna system, another for each transmit ‘pod’ and the fourth with test and monitoring. The Drive Fly uPod is unique and designed to be semi-permanently installed on an uplink truck, but can be dismantled and flown away very simply, and used as a traditional ground-mount flyaway system or fitted onto roof bars of almost any vehicle. All detachable parts are connected with quick-connect push connectors, including the transmit pods, feed arm and waveguide flanges."

In terms of how Meynell sees the broadcasting landscape in 2007, he drew a distinction between presentation and information, and news that ranges between the quotidian and historic events.

"I think there will be two distinctions between events and major news," he said.

"I think this distinction will become more apparent. Most news will remain in SD and simple low-cost terminals will be used. I think major events will be more focused on quality, HD, and the resilience of the link."

Ergo, "I believe that drive the market to bigger uplink trucks, bigger dishes, more redundancy. On the satellite side of the business, there will be real distinctions between the offerings of news and major events, perhaps for the first time. The news is about instant response. Major events are pre-planned, bigger units and high resilience."

Transition will come, he said, if gradually.

"I can see HD coming in slowly. Once they start to see it, the demand will be such, broadcasters may have to roll it out quicker than anticipated. I definitely see a big demand this year for HD links and we will make sure we put ourselves in a position to cope with that."

— Mark Holmes