VOOM Plans Big Expansion

[Gregg Lengling]

Cablevision subsidiary Rainbow Media Enterprises said Monday its VOOM satellite TV service will dramatically expand its services next March, growing from its current 39 high-def channels to more than 70 HDTV channels covering the continental United States.

The increase in VOOM's HD channels slate from 39 to more than 70 "will allow us to continue to provide more high-definition video services than any other cable or satellite provider," said Tom Dolan, CEO of Rainbow Media Enterprises. In addition to expanding the HD slate, Dolan said VOOM also plans to simultaneously add nearly 200 standard-definition channels.

To facilitate the expansion, the VOOM service will utilize 16 transponders on the SES Americom AMC-6 satellite, which VOOM refers to as "Rainbow 2." Programming transmitted by both the Rainbow 1 satellite already in orbit and Rainbow 2 will utilize a new encoding system from Harmonic, initially configured to run in MPEG-2 and software upgradeable to MPEG-4.

In addition to the AMC-6 announcement, Rainbow Media said it filed with the Federal Communications Commission a recently completed contract with satellite manufacturer Lockheed Martin for construction of five Ka-Band satellites for VOOM. The satellites, the first of which is set for completion and launch in about 34 months, will enable VOOM to increase its channel capacity to more than 5,000 high-definition channels when operating in spot beam mode, the company said.

Rainbow said the Ka-Band capacity will enable VOOM to have spot beams covering the entire United States including Alaska and Hawaii. And the satellites will be operated at the company's orbital locations at 62 degrees, 71 degrees, 77 degrees, 119 degrees and 129 degrees.