There have been more than a few reports these past weeks that the role of satellite-delivered TV is under threat from broadband and OTT services such as Netflix. ‘Not so’, implies Stephen Spengler, president and CEO at satellite giant Intelsat.

Addressing a Morgan Stanley investors conference last week in Barcelona, Spengler admitted to analysts that its broadcasting clients clearly had to cope with the challenge of OTT in the same way that cable operators do today. “[They] have to address the issue of people moving to the Internet, and to OTT delivery, and that of course is terrestrial for the time being,” Spengler stated. “But we think that, at some point, satellites can play a role. Some of the benefits of satellite distribution to cable head-ends can also be spread to [broadband and internet] servers in various cities.”

Spengler added that Intelsat would start testing Internet-type delivery services next year with the intention of rolling out follow-on services.  Intelsat is about to see its first  ‘EPIC’ satellite (I-29e) early in 2016 and which would add considerable extra bandwidth to the fleet.  Each of the EPIC satellites can provide high-throughput capacity via a slew of targeted spot beams.

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