Monthly Newsletter
After the long hours of filing for the RUS and NTIA stimulus money, we hope you have been able to sigh and get back to your normal activities, whatever normal is anymore. In the meantime RUS and NTIA have posted a searchable database of all applications received during the first funding round. Log on to
www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants/applications/search.cfm to see the filings. They are searchable by state or type of project. Nearly 2,200 applications were submitted for federal funding from the federal government’s broadband stimulus program, seeking $27.6 billion in funding, out of $4.3 billion that is available, said the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and Rural Utilities Service. Kentucky and Tennessee alone filed for $1.6B from 40+ applicants with $302M requested by the telcos. Now it is wait and see.
TelPlexus hosted the opening hospitality for the Tennessee Telephone
Association in August with a great turnout. The band was a hit with “The
Hands of Time” and Earl Grubbs playing the resonator guitar.
www.earlgrubbs.com TelPlexus also sponsored the Hospitality Suite Monday
and Tuesday nights for the convention.
NRTC, NTCA Revamp IPTV Programming
The National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) has had a busy
year since one of its key partners SES Americom announced it was shutting
down its wholesale IPTV programming service, IP Prime. In its latest move to appeal to the rural market, the cooperative announced today it is working with the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA) to
improve their programming offer, now renamed “TelcoVideo”
The two organizations, collectively representing about 2,000 small and rural
telephone cooperatives, rural utilities and commercial companies, are focused
on helping small and medium-sized telcos get into the video business. The new programming, tag-lined “powerful programming, smart support,” includes complete marketing support, access to Web-based support tools to
help run their video business and staff training programs and resources.
The NRTC and NCTA’s programming packages are divided into whitelabeled
tiers including high definition, Hispanic and variety tiers. The groups also offer premium package or movie channels that its telco customers can choose from to customize the programming packages that they will offer their customers. Some of the NRTC’s programming partners include HBO, MTV, Showtime, Starz, ESPN, Fox, Lifetime and Turner.
In general, the rural IPTV market has seemed to be picking up for independent telcos looking to video as a way to compete. The NRTC has been stepping up to address this growth, and in the past year has made a
significant investment in the recently merged digital media services company Avail Media and TVN, created more flexible programming packages and fixed the rates for its basic package for its rural customers, as well as added additional support for its telco members entering video, what is uncharted territory for most.
