Chinese billionaire Wang Jing – worth $6.1 billion according to Forbes’ annual list – wants to start building a low-cost satellite system. Wang, aged 40, is working with Tsinghua University, and plans to have a 5-craft constellation in space within 10 years. Wang is already backing the building of a new $40 billion canal across Nicaragua […]
Russia’s Proton rocket will return to its commercial launch manifest later in November. International Launch Services (ILS) which manages commercial activity for the Proton system, says that its first passenger following a Proton failure in May will be SES Astra 2G. There have been successful Proton launches since May but they were for Russian governmental […]
AsiaSat, the Asian satellite operator, and C Music Entertainment Limited in London, have signed an agreement to launch ‘C Music TV HD’ across Asia on AsiaSat 5 at 100.5°E from November 1st. This deal makes the classical and film music-video channel available in South East Asia, Australasia and India for the first time. Julian Rigamonti, […]
SES TechCom, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SES, and Es’hailSat, The Qatar Satellite Company registered in the State of Qatar, have confirmed a comprehensive consultancy service agreement. In the framework of the contract, SES TechCom will support Es’hailSat in the development of its new teleport facility. The teleport will be built on a green field site […]
The Latin American pay-TV services market is expected to continue its growth trajectory due to the rise in paid subscriptions for DTH TV. The demand for value-added services such as HD and VoD is further spurring market development. Innovative commercialisation models including prepaid plans and multiple-play bundles add to market revenues. Analysis from Frost & […]
There is considerable commercial rivalry between the France-based Arianespace rocket system, and the US-based Space Exploration (SpaceX) rocket. France’s space minister Genevieve Fioraso has criticised SpaceX, saying it is all but “dumping” their rockets onto the commercial market. The Minister’s rationale for her arguments is that SpaceX is being unfairly helped by the USA’s space […]
A Russian Proton rocket successfully launched the Express AM6 satellite at 7.09pm Moscow time on October 21st. It was the 6th Proton flight this year, but importantly the second success since a malfunction earlier in the year. The Express AM6 telecommunications satellite was built by ISS Reshetnev and will provide services to Russia, Central Europe […]
India’s Airtel digital TV, the Direct-To-Home (DTH) service from Bharti Airtel, is teaming with Samsung to launch India’s very first Integrated Digital TV (iDTV). As part of this initiative, Samsung’s range of SmartDirect TVs will come designed with an in-built Airtel digital TV Smart Card which will enable DTH signal reception without the need for […]
Freesat, the subscription free satellite TV service, has maintained its 2014 momentum by adding 8,000 new TV homes in the three months to the end of September. In all, Freesat has added 32,000 new households in the first nine months of 2014; it is now available in 1.9 million households and watched by more than […]
Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) says it is in negotiation with the insurance industry over a partial failure of its recently launched ABS-2 satellite. Their claim is for $214 million, and concerns their key Russian beam. ABS-2 was built b y Space Systems/Loral, and launched in February. The claim is complicated by the fact that the […]