Cobham Satcom has unveiled the firm’s most advanced maritime satellite TV antenna yet — designed primarily for use on cruise ships and mega yachts, the 3.7 meter Sea Tel 370s TV expands onboard access to the highest quality programming anywhere in the world, while significantly reducing lifetime technical costs.
The Sea Tel 370s TV leverages the newest generation Sea Tel Integrated Marine Electronics (IMA) platform, which is already proven in the world’s most flexible and powerful marine VSAT antenna systems. New technology helps unlock several advantages for cruise and yacht charter companies by automating the manual processes that have until now been needed to make some of the most popular television channels available globally at sea.
Cobham Satcom’s new flagship TVRO antenna features automatic C-band switching between circular and linear polarization, ensuring uninterrupted viewing and continuous availability of live television such as ESPN, which is one of the most popular cruise ship channels especially when major sporting tournaments are playing.
The introduction of the Sea Tel 370s TV advanced automatic switching alleviates the shipowner of having to undergo the costly and time-consuming work previously required when an engineer had to board the ship and manually convert antennas between circular and linear polarization when entering a new region served by incompatible satellites.
Further advances come from an innovative new technology that mitigates the recent phenomenon of 5G interference with satellite TV on board, when getting closer to land. Cobham Satcom has applied its decades of radio frequency engineering expertise to ensure that the Sea Tel 370s TV provides the best viewing experience under extreme atmospheric conditions as well as 5G signal interference.
Additionally, Cobham Satcom will be offering a feed upgrade which will be compatible with many of the existing Sea Tel 2.4 meter and 3.7 meter TVRO antennas already operating on cruise ships and mega yachts globally. The ability to upgrade these existing systems to the new Circular/Linear 5G filtered feed will save the customer considerable capital and operational expenditure.
The Sea Tel 370s TV is Cobham Satcom’s second new TVRO launch in as many months. The company also released its all-new SAILOR XTR TVRO antennas in May this year. Consisting of 1 meter and 1.2 meter antenna systems, the focus is on a smaller onboard footprint, while offering class-leading global programming and interference free reception for improved viewing on a wide range of vessel types.
Henrik Fyhn, VP & Product Line Director, Maritime, Cobham Satcom, said, “While the ability to deliver high quality television on board is a key factor in guest satisfaction scores in the cruise sector, removing the need for regular engineer visits to manually modify an antenna for ships traversing between incompatible satellite regions, can deliver at least six figure savings over the lifetime of a vessel.”