Coding and multiplexing is the process of compressing and processing the various elements making up outgoing television signals into a form suitable for transmission to digital terrestrial and digital satellite set-top boxes.
The project will enable the Corporation to achieve the roll-out of new digital networks for switchover, and is said to be one of the largest and most complex coding and multiplexing projects worldwide.
The BBC has said it is committed to the transition to a fully digital TV broadcasting environment in the UK through digital switchover. 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% of the UK population.
Barry Yard, executive sirector at Siemens IT Solutions and Services, said: 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.
Yard said that Siemens IT Solutions and Services will complete implementation of the new infrastructure within two years and run it as a managed service until 2015.
