BROOMFIELD, Colorado -- Level 3 Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: LVLT - News) today announced that the company has expanded its Vyvx services platform to include broadcast video distribution in Europe. The expansion enables more efficient distribution of North American broadcast programming to Europe and provides European customers access to broadcast video delivery over the Level 3 network.

"As one of the largest and most connected IP networks in the world, Level 3 is now capitalizing on the reach of our network to expand the Vyvx services platform," said Grant van Rooyen, president of Level 3's Content Markets Group. "This expansion builds on our proven track record of performance in the broadcast industry and provides our customers with the comprehensive service portfolio to continue expanding their global broadcast distribution."

The expansion of the Vyvx services platform to Europe includes new point-of-presence (POP) facilities at the Level 3 gateway in London. New digital video encoding and publishing equipment at the London POP facilitates fiber-based transmission of high-quality, broadcast video in Europe. Access to fiber-based delivery augments Level 3's existing capabilities to support broadcast video downlinks to satellite facilities across Europe. With these enhanced capabilities, Level 3 now offers the full range of Vyvx broadcast video services in Europe that have been available to broadcast customers in North America.

As part of this expansion of Vyvx services to Europe, Level 3 also added satellite downlink capabilities in Berlin. These new capabilities improve end-to-end monitoring of video quality for broadcast traffic delivered via satellite. Level 3 now operates four satellite facilities: Atlanta, Denver, Los Angeles and Berlin.

Level 3 Communications Inc. (NYSE: LVLT)