AMERICOM Goverment Services

Agency
Armed Forces Radio and Television Service

Department
Department of Defense

Mission
Communicate Department of Defense (DoD) information and provide U.S. television and radio programming to U.S. service members, civilians and their families overseas and on board U.S. Navy ships.

Challenge
The AFRTS must provide multi-channel, broadcastquality radio and television services, plus expanded internal information products, to all DoD members and their families stationed overseas and on contingency operations. When AFRTS decided to make the Pentagon Channel available to audiences throughout the United States, they needed a proven partner with expertise they could rely on 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Solution
In 2004, the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS) decided that the Pentagon Channel, which at that time had been an information channel within the Pentagon, should be made available to Pentagon employees, military and federal personnel, and interested consumers in the United States. The Pentagon Channel broadcasts military news and information, including:


Armed Forces Radio and Television Service

When AFRTS decided to make the Pentagon Channel available to audiences throughout the United States, they needed a proven partner with expertise they could rely on 24 hours a day, seven days a week.


Using AGS technology to send the signal

AFRTS needed a proven industry leader with a track record in both defense satellite communications (satcom) and video distribution, with the right satellite assets and expertise to get the channel up and running efficiently. AMERICOM Government Services' satcom solutions have enabled federal agencies and the DoD to provide "always-on" communications to fulfill both routine and mission-critical applications since 1974. AMERICOM Government Services had the satellite assets and the expertise to meet AFRTS' requirements and timetable.

Today, AMERICOM Government Services is delivering the Pentagon Channel to DoD personnel, employees and interested consumers via cable headends across the United States. All programming is produced and broadcast from facilities at the Pentagon. The signal is sent to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, where the signal is uplinked to AMERICOM satellite AMC-1, which covers the entire continental United States plus Alaska, Hawaii, northern Mexico and southern Canada.

The Pentagon Channel content is delivered via AGS' extensive terrestrial facilities. As it does for many of its government clients, AGS manages the entire end-toend process through a customized satcom solution, including the satellite uplink, fiber, interconnect and space segment for the channel.

For more information on how reliable satellite communications from AGS can help you accomplish your mission, please call 800-910-0988 (U.S. only) or (1)703-610-0988.

It really is Rocket Science.