C-Band Transition Acceleration Service Now Powers Transition Program using the Media Substrate

The transition program NetActuate announced at NAB now runs on the transport layer launching at IBC 2026. Broadcasters leaving satellite get a measured path to air, and NetActuate runs the second path.

AMSTERDAM, Sept. 8, 2026  /PRNewswire/ -- NetActuate today announced that its 2026 C-Band Transition Acceleration Program, launched at NAB, now runs on the NetActuate Media Substrate, the transport layer the company is introducing at IBC 2026. The program gives United States broadcasters a terrestrial path off C-band satellite. A station group can now be handed a working, redundant path on a network NetActuate already operates.

For a broadcaster working the transition to terrestrial IP, the practical difference is the second, redundant path. Contribution has always meant procuring diversity yourself, whether that was a backup transponder or a second circuit and a bonding appliance at both ends. On the substrate the broadcaster sends one stream and receives one stream, and NetActuate runs the diverse paths beneath it. In a blackout test, one path was taken fully dark and the merged output lost nothing.

The rest of the program is unchanged and now sits on that foundation. Every path is measured end to end, with a real figure for the station group's own route published in the portal and its last mile reported separately. The substrate carries eleven protocols, including SRT, RIST, UDP, MPTS, MoQ, ST 2022-7, SMPTE ST 2110, RTMP, WebRTC, WHIP and WHEP, so a station group keeps the encoders it already trusts.

The last mile is the part broadcasters worry about most. However, it's often congestion between the local provider and the wider internet that causes issues. The Media Substrate routes around congestion automatically. A station group can take a dedicated circuit, hand the last mile to NetActuate to run, or pair a satellite link, and mix those across a footprint.

The regulatory clock is the reason the industry is moving now. The July 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act mandated a competitive bidding auction of the upper C-band, 3.98 to 4.2 GHz, by July 4, 2027, and in November 2025 the FCC voted to advance the rulemaking that carries it into effect. The expectation is that this ends the remaining broadcast satellite spectrum and moves contribution and primary distribution onto IP and fibre over roughly five years.

Transition is also happening while the supply side consolidates, leaving broadcasters with fewer and larger incumbents to choose from as they are being pushed off satellite. NetActuate is an independent network operator, not a satellite company and not a reseller of one.

"Every feed still on C-band needs somewhere to go before the spectrum goes, and the stations moving now get to do it on their own terms instead of against the clock," said Mark Mahle, CEO of NetActuate. "We can turn a path up today. You send us the feed, we run two paths underneath it, and you never buy the second circuit."

NetActuate operates 22 locations in the United States with a presence in every major North American media market, part of more than 45 locations worldwide on one of the largest globally-peered IPv4 and IPv6 networks. The C-Band Transition Acceleration Program is available now, with the Media Substrate sold under Networking in the NetActuate portal in Managed and Custom tiers. Program resources remain at netactuate.com/c-band-transition.

About NetActuate

NetActuate delivers edge infrastructure and network solutions in over 45 locations worldwide, enabling customers to deploy workloads with low latency, resiliency, and security. The Open Network Edge (ONE) IaaS platform supports VMs, Kubernetes, cloud, colocation, bare metal, and storage infrastructure with Anycast connectivity. NetActuate provides 24x7 support, expert consulting, and flexible solutions engineered for scalability and performance. For more information, visit netactuate.com.

SOURCE NetActuate