The change in the transmission and teleport market has been revolutionary. Especially for those who, like me, have had the possibility of living it in all its stages, from the manufacture of antennas, through the use of satellites to transmit television signals, to operate the largest teleport in the south of the United States, with 28 signals to South America, from Miami, and new uses for video, audio and Internet data distribution.
Among the biggest changes are the higher power of satellites, the digitization of signals and the opening of markets in Latin America. The Hero company evolved because we had always anticipated the market; we were looking at the KU band and the direction the markets were going to take. We added the distribution of equipment for cablers in South America and then moved on to television services for North American and Latin American companies.
When we manufactured this plant we made it possible to take any type of transmission – whether digital or analog, or in any videotape format – because we knew that many changes were coming and we had to be willing to respond without modifying the infrastructure too much.
We are very happy about our participation in the growth of signal distribution in Latin America, mostly because the quality standard is very high and allows people to say that cable signals are equal to or better than what they are receiving from local markets.
With the entry of DTV starting this year in the United States, many more channels will be serving specific markets; signals applied for different services that respond to the interests of different people.
Latin America is a growing market to receive signals, but it has also begun to sell its signals and transmit its programs, with the possibility of going global. At the moment I see the export of signals to Europe and the United States as a very big possibility. We have 30 million Hispanics in the United States, which makes us comparable to any country in Latin America. In Spain we have cable markets that are starting and are very large. There are already signal plans aimed at Europe, originating in Argentina and Brazil. HTV is distributed from Miami to all of Latin America, Spain, Portugal and Japan at this time.
Argentina, Venezuela and Mexico, at the forefront of international TV production, are originating signals to the United States and Europe. There are new satellite launches that will give the opportunity to open many Latin American markets.
Our vision is now global, because the market has become a world market. GlobeCast bought Hero with the idea of creating its door to Latin America and completing the services it has around the world, to transmit global video, as its name says.
The future is immense. Communications and the way we communicate and take information will change.
