(29 October 2007 6:00 pm)

MUMBAI: SES Americom in the US has teamed with advertising technology specialist Packet Vision, to enable telecommunications carriers using SES Americom’s IP-Prime Internet protocol television (IPTV) service to generate ad revenue through the insertion of targetted local ads.

Using Packet Vision's advanced IP-based advertising solution, operators offering IP-Prime service will be able to maximize the use of their local ad avails.

This can be done by inserting ads for local and nationwide companies that are specifically directed to selected groups of consumers based on geographic locations or demographic profiles.

The Packet Vision solution, the MPEG-4, IPTV technology for local ad insertion, will utilise the inherent advantages of IP-Prime to allow IPTV service providers to generate local ad revenue, as the cable industry has successfully done for years. Carrying local ads is a proven money maker, earning US cable television operators nearly $4.3 billion in 2006, according to Kagan Research.

SES Americom’s IP-Prime division president Bill Squadron says, "We engineered IP-Prime to be an open and turnkey solution, giving telcos and other service providers everything required to deliver TV service and to maximize the other revenue generating opportunities of TV, including local advertising.

"Leveraging the open, standards-based nature of IP-Prime, we can integrate Packet Vision’s innovative targetted advertising solution to provide IP-Prime customers with a tested solution for tapping the lucrative local ad opportunity."

Packet Vision US GM Richard George says, "Packet Vision’s advertising service perfectly complements SES Americom’s IP-Prime service, as it is specifically designed to minimise capital and operational costs to IPTV service providers.

"Securing a relationship with IP-PRIME represents a significant step in the expansion of Packet Vision’s reach to IPTV service providers and is a logical next move as the company opens up further distribution channels in the USA and Canada."

The Packet Vision solution is designed for deployment in the headends of IP-Prime customers, requiring no changes to the set-top boxes in viewers’ homes. The system integrates the key technical elements needed for local ad insertion, targeted advertising and interactive campaigns, combining a media server, ad splicer, playout router and management system, all housed in a single rack-mounted 'pizza box' style enclosure.

IP-Prime and Packet Vision will be conducting extensive testing at the IP-Prime broadcast center in Vernon Valley, New Jersey to validate integration and interoperability with set-top boxes and the other components of the IP-Prime ecosystem.

Packet Vision is continuing to develop its solution and intends to regularly add new functionality that leverages the flexibility of IP, the two-way nature of IPTV networks and the power of set-top boxes. Future applications will provide viewers with more personalized commercial breaks and a greater degree of interactivity.

The companies plan to make the Packet Vision IPTV advertising solution available to IP-Prime customers in the first half of 2008. The SES-Packet Vision agreement is subject to Packet Vision shareholder approval.