A new wave of Ultra HD trial agreements have been signed with cable operators from coast to coast, including Aureon in Iowa, GVTC Communications in Texas, Highlands Cable Group in North Carolina, KPU Telecommunications in Alaska, Service Electric in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and Shrewsbury Community Cable in Massachusetts.

Over 15 cable operators and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs), with a combined audience of over seven million subscribers, are testing 4K content delivery across SES’s fully-managed, pre-packaged Ultra HD platform. The platform offers the largest Ultra HD programming line-up, together with satellite distribution services and reception gear.

“Our SES Ultra HD solution is on course to enable live and linear Ultra HD delivery to homes in half the time it took HD to reach the same television milestone across the US,” noted Steve Corda, vice president of business development in North America for SES. “Cable operators have been extremely impressed with how easy it is to implement our pre-packaged Ultra HD solution across their networks. By leveraging the scalability and reliability of satellite, SES has greatly accelerated the delivery of Ultra HD to homes throughout North America. Some of the first cable operators to join our Ultra HD trials early last year are now on the verge of launching the very first consumer Ultra HD packages in the US.”

Added Jeff Hendrickson, video headend technician, KPU Telecommunications: “KPU TV has initiated its first Ultra HD trials with SES, firmly committed to being the first to offer the best 4K Ultra HD services to our customers throughout Ketchikan, Alaska. Sales of 4K Ultra HD TVs have increased dramatically across the community, and so have customer requests for great Ultra HD content.”