Eutelsat has, so far, sold more than 700 hours of extra capacity for news links from Rome, helped by the election of Pope Francis. The satellite operator described the demand for extra capacity as “intense” and spread over 5 of its satellites.

Eutelsat says demand for capacity accelerated when the College of Cardinals began deliberation on March 12th in anticipation of a signal of white smoke and the first declaration of a new Pope from St. Peter’s Square.

Capacity had been booked to date by Arqiva, The Associated Press, GlobeCast, M-Three Satcom, SIS LIVE and Telenor on Eutelsat Ku-band satellites in order to transmit live and pre-recorded content from Rome to studios across Europe and North America.

Eutelsat’s NewsSpotter service that operates via the KA-SAT Ka-band satellite has also been called on by Italian and international broadcasters to complement newsgathering operations. Providing native IP connectivity, NewsSpotter is integrated for workflows of modern live reporting operations.

Eutelsat’s booking centres sell capacity from a minimum of 15 minutes to several days for coverage of news events. Eutelsat’s Rome bookings extend into the coming week for the Papal enthronement ceremonies.

Other posts by Chris Forrester:

1. Rivada visits Terran Orbital’s manufacturing HQ
2. Avanti wins spectrum debt obligation case
3. SpaceX breaks records for re-use launchers
4. IRIS2 already in trouble?
5. Intelsat contemplates next steps
6. SpaceX: 2.7m customers and $180bn value
7. Boeing, Virgin Galactic in court battle
8. Jupiter-3 a changemaker
9. Terran Orbital is again Compliant

Categories: Blogs, Inside Satellite