HPT MEDIA RELEASE - November 23, 2002
Contact: Vince Waterson
Hawaii-Pacific Teleport
1-808-674-9157
vwaterson@hawaiiteleport.com
Trans-Pacific Alliance Spans Pacific to Bring NBA to Philippines
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Manila, Philippines - In a case of David and Goliath, Mabuhay Philippines Satellite Corporation (MPSC) - a small satellite operator - together with its US partners Crawford Communications and The Hawaii-Pacific Teleport, has closed a ground breaking deal with Solar Entertainment to transmit programming of NBA TV and live NBA games to the Philippines. MPSC succeeded in defeating several larger US satellite companies who are worldwide leaders in international program distribution, who were also vying for the network. The service, which integrate trans-national and trans-oceanic fiber, Hawaii based “long reach” satellite uplinking and an Asian based and owned satellite, commenced operations on October 29, 2002 in time for the 2002/2003 season, and is running smoothly.
MPSC, owns and operates the Agila II geo-stationary satellite orbiting at 146E.L., and is partnered in this venture with Crawford Communications of Georgia and Hawaii-Pacific Teleport of Hawaii, to provide a seamless network for the transmission of encrypted NBA related media from New York to the Philippines. Crawford Communications is instrumental to this service by managing the network between New York and Hawaii, whereupon the transmission is being uplinked by Hawaii-Pacific Teleport to Agila II for final distribution to the Philippines.
An MPSC spokesperson said that "due to the integration of the combined resources of the three companies, we are now directly connecting premium American television media to the Whole of Asia.. MPSC aligned itself with other privately held and nimble companies Crawfor and Hawaii-Pacific Teleport to engage this venture. The result is an alliance of smaller players covering discrete areas of the overall requirement to create a whole that is large enough to compete with the largest players in the industry in pursuing programming distribution in Asia. These companies have allied to establish a network that functions as part of larger strategy of bringing premium programming across the Pacific, that is capable of operating in both directions to provide content distribution linking markets as remote from one another as Europe and the Indian sub-continent. Moreover, the MPSC spokesperson said " the Philippines remains one of the most basketball and NBA-crazy nations outside the US, and MPSC is very proud to be able to play a prominent role in bringing the NBA to the Philippines for its client Solar Entertainment and their new Sports Network project."
Vince Waterson of Hawaii-Pacific Teleports said, "this deal is very important for us, because channel and content owners in the Americas and Asia now have a cost-affordable alternative and highly flexible method of bringing programming through Hawaii to cable, DTH and broadcast networks that reach audiences far away."
Vince Matherne of Crawford Communications said that, “Crawford has had its sights on providing a link between Asia and the US especially for channels, and this deal will offer us an initial opportunity to marketalternative content and pioneering channels to reach Asia's population of over 3 Billion people. The potential is huge and we are very excited about establishing this initial venture through our partners in this new Asian distribution network”
Matthew A. Lloren, Executive Assistant
Mabuhay Philippines Satellite Corporation
26F Rufino Pacific Tower - 6784 Ayala Avenue
Makati City 1226 Philippines
Tel: +63 (0)2 887 5788 Mobile: +63 (0)918 916 3891 Fax: +63 (0)2 887 5789
http://www.mabuhaysat.com
Mabuhay Philippines Satellite Corporation (MPSC) is a subsidiary of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), and operates the Agila II satellite (146 E.L.) with coverage over Asia and Hawaii. Agila II is a perfect component to Asian and international distribution for IP and Video. Satellite-based Services including: Transponder Leasing; Bandwidth on Demand; Video Service; and IP Services.
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