[Satellite Today 06-24-09] EchoStar Satellite Services signed an agreement with Ringgold Telephone Company (RTC), a U.S. provider of converged communications to access lines in northern Georgia, to deliver EchoStar’s ViP-TV video transport service to RTC’s secured network, EchoStar announced June 23.
    With EchoStar’s support, RTC will receive transport of up to 42 high-definition TV channels to its IP headend, bringing its total number of high-definition channels to 48. RTC said the ViP-TV delivered IP channels will be available immediately to its subscribers.
    EchoStar’s ViP-TV transport service delivers secure, MPEG-4 encoded IP streams of approximately 275 TV and music channels from a satellite located at 85 degrees West. ViP-TV can also provide satellite-delivered local TV channel aggregation in a telco’s designated market area in both high and standard definition.