ATSI Develops Private Broadcast Network to Asia Pacific
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Extends Satellite Reach
Los Angeles, California, For Immediate Release:
Application Technology Strategy, Inc. (ATSI) recently completed a project to extend the services and reach of the private broadcast network of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The Church, the fastest growing religious institution in the United States, has built one of the most extensive private satellite broadcasting networks reaching over 5000 worldwide locations. Through international growth, it has approximately half of the membership now residing outside of the U.S. During the past 18 months, ATSI has directly assisted the Headquarters of the Church, Bonneville Satellite (a division of Bonneville International), and Brigham Young University to develop and implement the newest section of the network, the entire Asia Pacific Region. Previously, broadcast content was delivered by mailing videotapes and streaming through the Internet at low-connect speeds.
The network extension for Asia Pacific involved the review of requirements for the broadcast network as well as the development of network design that would initially reach 250 locations - from Mongolia and Japan to as far into the Pacific as Samoa and Kiribati. Literally all of the candidate satellites and teleports in this broad region were evaluated, resulting in selection of JCSAT 2A, owned and operated by JSAT of Japan, and Hawaii-Pacific Teleport.
In addition to full-motion digital video MPEG 2 transmission, the network is capable of upgrade for two-way high-speed data communications using state-of-the-art VSAT technology. The latter is proposed to meet the evolving needs of the Church for education, information and business applications.
The project was finished in time for a particularly noteworthy broadcast originating October 5-6 in Salt Lake City and transmitted throughout the world from the Conference Center of the Church. President Gordon B. Hinckley stated in his presentation during the 172nd Semiannual General Conference, in October, “The proceedings of this conference will be carried across the world, and the speakers will be heard and seen by Latter-day Saints on every continent.”
The Church commented that, “ATSI’s work contributed to members in Romania, Armenia, Russia, Ukraine, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga successfully receiving their first live General Conference broadcast. According to one report, a 4:00 a.m. Sunday session in the Philippines was filled to capacity with people sitting in the chapel, cultural hall, classroom overflow, and even the hallways of their local building to witness the conference. It clearly means a great deal to the people in these areas to finally connect via satellite and to participate in these kinds of events in real time.”
Bruce Elbert, President of ATSI, said, “This is one of the most rewarding projects to which ATSI has contributed. Through our systems engineering and project management services, we were able to address the Church’s needs from the routine to the special.”
ATSI is a leading-edge satellite communications consulting and training firm based in Thousand Oaks, California.
Back to HPT News
