[Satellite TODAY Insider 10-27-10] EchoStar signed separate agreements with Arqiva and International Datacasting Corp. (IDC) to support its international plans to roll out new digital content, EchoStar announced Oct. 26.
    Communications infrastructure and media services company Arqiva reached a agreement with EchoStar to extend its existing multi-year global contribution contract.  The extended deal contracts Arqiva for full-time delivery of more than 30 international channels from Europe and Asia to EchoStar’s teleports in Cheyenne, Wyo., and Gilbert, Ariz.
    The EchoStar-Arqiva deal also includes full-time downlinking of the 30-plus channels as well as operation of a multiplex system at Arqiva’s Chalfont teleport in the United Kingdom. The signal will then be sent via fiber to EchoStar’s teleports.
“The EchoStar renewal demonstrates the confidence it has in Arqiva’s seamless global delivery. By utilizing our extensive fiber and teleport infrastructure in Europe, we are able to reliably deliver a portion of EchoStar’s international programming fare to its U.S. locations,” Arqiva Executive Vice President Jon Kirchner said in a statement.
    Separately, EchoStar and its broadband multimedia content joint venture partner Deluxe Digital Cinema reached an agreement with IDC to place an initial order for IDC’s digital cinema specific equipment and content distribution solutions.
    Deluxe and EchoStar will deploy a turnkey content delivery system that includes IDC’s Pro Cinema cache servers with dual DVB-S2 satellite demodulators, onboard storage and DCP-aware applications. The agreement also includes support for 3-D content.
    In a statement, EchoStar Senior Vice President Vern Smith called the agreement a “logical extension” of its IP-based content delivery platform. “IDC has integrated next-generation digital cinema-functionality into its solution that will allow Deluxe and EchoStar to operate our network in a converged mode with live, file-based and on-demand delivery. This is very exciting for the future of digital cinema distribution.”
    Financial details of the IDC agreement were not disclosed. However, IDC confirmed the deal could “potentially be worth several million dollars.”

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