The BBC has commissioned Siemens IT Solutions and Services to design, build and operate a new coding and multiplexing infrastructure, delivering a managed service until 2015.
The project will enable the corporation to achieve the roll-out of new digital networks for switchover. It is one of the largest and most complex coding and multiplexing projects worldwide, according to Siemens.
The BBC is committed to the transition to a fully digital TV broadcasting environment in the UK, and through the deal the BBC will replace and consolidate its coding and multiplexing infrastructure and expand its transmission capacities at the same time. The contract with Siemens gives the broadcaster the ability to deliver high power digital terrestrial television that by the end of 2012 will reach 98.5 percent of the UK population.
Barry Yard, executive director at Siemens IT Solutions and Services, said:" We are pleased to be supporting the BBC in achieving this important milestone in broadcasting in the UK. This is a complex and challenging migration, but by the summer of 2009, anyone watching the corporation's channels on digital satellite or digital terrestrial television in the UK will only be able to do so because of this service".
Siemens IT Solutions and Services will complete implementation of the solution within two years and run it as a managed service until 2015.
