SES reports that Comcast Wholesale has renewed and expanded key agreements for nearly 650 MHz of C-band capacity to deliver a broad range of content management and delivery solutions to media companies across North America.

As part of the multi-year deal, Comcast Wholesale continues to utilize 16 transponders aboard the AMC-18 satellite and one transponder on the AMC-1 spacecraft and has contracted one additional transponder on this spacecraft.

The capacity enables Comcast to provide cable programmers, multiple system operators and independent cable operators access to linear and on-demand content distribution solutions, including Comcast's HITS (Headend in the Sky) platform.

The Comcast Media Center on-demand programming distribution will be transitioned from AMC-1 to the new SES-3 satellite in 2014.

SES-1 at 101 degrees West, AMC-1 at 103 degrees West and AMC-18 at 105 degrees West make up SES's expanding cable video distribution neighborhood at their locations in the center of the arc over North America.

AMC-18 has played an integral role supporting the HITS platform since 2007, when Comcast Wholesale moved its innovative platform from Ku-band to C-band.

"This agreement marks the latest milestone in a long-term, collaborative partnership between Comcast Wholesale and SES that has always strived to meet the evolving needs and demands of the media and entertainment industry," explained Ferdinand Kayser, Chief Commercial Officer of SES.

"Comcast Wholesale has long been an engine for innovation for the cable industry with its HITS solution aimed at helping independent operators compete in a fiercely contested market. SES is honored to renew and expand our alliance with Comcast Wholesale with a constant eye on the future."

"The ever-changing industry landscape requires a new level of expertise and outside-the-box thinking that SES has always brought to the table in support of our solutions," said Leslie Russell, Vice President and General Manager HITS.

"We have the right satellite distribution partner to deliver our comprehensive services portfolio, ranging from linear to on-demand to network origination services."