[Satellite TODAY 02-12-13] SES has announced a strategic partnership with Viking Satcom for the development and deployment of commercial satellite antenna systems to enable the expansion of its center arc cable neighborhood. The two companies will showcase the initiative at NCTC in Las Vegas

   The trio of SES center arc satellites, AMC-18, AMC-1 and SES-1, enables cable operators to include regional and national programming to their lineups. The company initiated a fully funded antenna program to make it easy for cable systems to receive content from the center arc birds, complementing SES’ two western arc satellites, AMC-10 and AMC-11, which have traditionally been home to the premium cable dial.

   Under this antenna program, qualified cable operators will receive a Viking Satcom C-band antenna system to receive all existing and future SES delivered cable programming on the center arc cable neighborhood, free of charge.

   “This SES-Viking Satcom partnership is all about enabling more cable operators, and ultimately more cable subscribers, to access more quality programming easily, seamlessly and reliably throughout North America,” Steve Bunke, vice president of North America Commercial Sales for SES, said on a statement.

   The SES-1 satellite provides full coverage in C- and Ku-band through North America to deliver a host of communications services. The AMC-1 also offers North America coverage with a C-band payload that is home to national television networks broadcasting to thousands of cable headends. Additionally, the Ku-band beam supports VSAT and broadband services for enterprise customers.

   The AMC-18 is optimized for digital television distribution for the center of the U.S. orbital arc and covers all 50 states, Canada, the Caribbean and Mexico. AMC-10 and AMC-11 offer fully protected distributed cable television programming regionally and nationally. The two satellites provide advanced C-band digital transmission services.