Products / Services

BEK Communications Cooperative Among Telco Providers Delivering IPTV Content from Avail Media to Subscribers

Reston, Virginia, March 26, 2009 - Avail Media, the only independent customer service-focused aggregator and provider of both linear and video-on-demand (VOD) MPEG-4 IPTV content, today announced the addition of nine former SES Americom IP Prime™ customers to its growing roster of affiliates. Former IP Prime™ customers from across the country that have made the jump to Avail Media’s video services solution include BEK Communications Cooperative of North Dakota, which has tapped Avail Media to take over its IPTV deployment in the wake of SES Americom’s decision to exit the market. Avail Media will announce additional deployments with IP Prime™ customers early next quarter as well.

“Avail Media offered a ‘one-stop’ solution that allowed us to continue marketing video content to our subscribers with no downtime or interruptions in service. In today’s hyper-competitive environment, we wanted the switch to be invisible to our customers,” said Derrick Bulawa, CEO, BEK Communications Cooperative. “By offering linear and on-demand content, taking care of transport rights, and partnering with all of the best-in-class members of the IPTV ecosystem, Avail Media was able to offer a solution that could be up and running in a matter of weeks and delivering enhanced value to our subscribers with no interruptions or changes to our service.”

The Avail Media Partner Ecosystem
Avail Media delivers value to its customers through relationships with equipment providers, resellers, and content owners. Among Avail Media’s partners are:

• Sales channel partners, resellers, and systems integrators such as BBT, CSI Digital, Evolution Broadband, Falcon IP/Complete, Fidelity Communications, Motorola, and Nortel.
• Business consulting groups, such as Jason Anderson Consulting.

Avail Media delivers an extensive content library, with transport rights from the top national programmers, including ABC-Disney, Turner, NBC Universal, MTV Networks, and Fox Cable Networks. Its linear programming is complemented by its VOD rights from the major Hollywood movie studios, such as Buena Vista/Disney, DreamWorks, Lionsgate Films, MGM, NBC Universal, New Line Cinema, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, and Warner Bros. Avail Media’s customer portal, Avail Advisor, provides the company’s global affiliates with all of the tools necessary to successfully plan, deploy, and market profitable video services.

“Working with our partners, Avail Media is able to offer a complete solution that is one hundred percent focused on delivering video content to our affiliates’ subscribers,” said Ramu Potarazu, CEO of Avail Media. “Our company has been focused solely on IP-based digital video services from the beginning, and we have built our offerings to optimize the experience for both affiliates and subscribers alike. Our ability to get former SES Americom customers, such as BEK, up-and-running quickly is based on our strong solution and service-orientation, which is supported by our network of like-minded partners.”

Avail Media continues to work with its ecosystem partners to develop customized solutions, ensuring minimal infrastructure changes and reasonable fees to support both its existing as well as future affiliates.

BEK Communications Cooperative, founded in 1952, is a multi-faceted telecommunications company, headquartered in Steele, North Dakota. We provide voice, video, and data services to approximately 6,000 customers throughout six counties in south-central North Dakota. Our focus is to provide quality communications services to our customers at a reasonable price. For more information, please visit www.bektel.com.

Based in Reston, Virginia, Avail Media is the industry leader in providing managed content aggregation services through a fully-integrated, head-end infrastructure for the profitable deployment of IP video. Avail Media is the only company today to deliver to its affiliates a combined MPEG-4 linear IPTV, HD Overlay (MPEG-2/4) programming solution, and Video On Demand (VOD) solution. The Avail Media solution includes a full content lineup of live television programming with hundreds of channels, all quality-encoded in MPEG-4, IP-encapsulated, encrypted, combined with VOD, and designed for future value-added services. Avail Media's system has been designed for use by video providers of multiple types - whether triple-play, quad-play, or pure video play. For more information, please visit www.availmedia.com.