Hiwire and Cable Companies

DTV Professional has an article about Hiwire, the recent entrant in the wireless multicast TV market from Aloha Partners.

From the article:

"Hiwire is notable in part because of its cable connections. In addition to Aloha CEO Charles Townsend, the former president of Colony Communications in Providence, R.I., Hiwire has investment funding from cable veterans including Continental Cablevision Inc. founder Amos Hostetter, former Prime Cable CEO Bob Hughes, and former Daniels Cable president John Saeman.

"It's an interesting juxtaposition of these cable operators now looking at a new video play that is not based on wires, but wireless," Townsend said. "I think they can appreciate the potential here for this new offering better than most, which is why they put money into Aloha."

SES Americom will supply the nationwide video transmission backbone via its satellite network and IP-PRIME IPTV Broadcast Center in Vernon Valley, N.J. There, the satellite provider will gather network programming feeds and transcode them, converting the video from MPEG-2 into MPEG-4/H.264. It will then deliver the video signals to Hiwire markets via satellite.

From there, the signals will feed future subscribers' DVB-H-enabled cellular phones, offered through a wireless-carrier partner. Hiwire has yet to secure this partner, but it is in talks with several companies, according to CEO Scott Wills."

More Hiwire:
Hello Hiwire