In the next few weeks, Ascent Media will be opening UP Satellite sites in several other cities, including Chicago, Minneapolis, Portland, Seattle, Boston, Miami and Atlanta. UP Satellite will also be available soon from Company 3 New York and R!OT Manhattan.

To ensure optimum image quality, UP Satellite employs a digital path from end to end with no NTSC encoding. That avoids the artifacts common to most types of long haul terrestrial transmissions. In addition to digital video transmission, the system could be easily adapted for data transfers as demand for that service grows.

Although Ascent Media is initially targeting telecine work, UP Satellite can also be used to monitor other types of post-production work, including visual effects and finishing. Dailies transfers are another important potential market, not only for commercial work, but also for feature film production. As the service could easily be extended overseas, Ascent Media foresees directors using the service to view dailies while on location.

In addition to UP Satellite, UP Sessions includes UP Fiber and UP Web. UP Fiber connects all the Ascent Media facilities in realtime at broadcast quality via fiber. This allows clients to access, for example, Company 3 New York artists from a bay at Company 3 Santa Monica. UP Web is an Internet-based tool that allows clients to collaborate with sessions in realtime via a computer. This product is review quality only, but can save time and money on voiceover placements and visual effects sessions, among other things.

Ascent Media Group (www.ascentmedia.com) is a provider of services to the media entertainment industry, offering clients effective solutions for the creation, management and distribution of content. A subsidiary of Liberty Media Corp., Ascent Media Group is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, with more than 70 operating facilities.