A detailed investigation is taking place into why a solar panel has failed to deploy on Intelsat-19, and one focus of examination is looking at whether the Sea Launch’s rocket fairing suffered excessive vibration during the launch process. While this aspect is only one of the studies being undertaken the pressure is on satellite builders […]
Pay TV revenues in the US will peak in 2013, before gradually falling by $2.6 billion to reach $88.2 billion in 2017, according to a report from Digital TV Research. The report concludes that TV ARPU is being forced down as cable operators and telcos convert their subscribers to dual-play or triple-play bundles, though blended […]
Dish Network has an orbital slot at 148 degrees West, but it hasn’t used the frequencies available at the position since mid-2009. The slot is valued at $68 million in Dish Network’s accounts, but the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says that because Dish Network has not used the position then it has lost its ‘rights’ […]
The past few days have seen Syrian television output effectively banned from the Middle East’s two most powerful satellite operators, Arabsat and Nilesat. The decision came about because of a demand from the Arab League’s Foreign Ministers. However, it is now clear that some segments of Pan-Arab opinion were against the decision. For example, Lebanon’s […]
Intelsat has introduced the Intelsat EpicNG satellite platform, a new series of satellites based upon a high performance, open architecture design. Intelsat EpicNG will be deployed for wireless and fixed telecommunications, enterprise, mobility, video and government applications requiring broadband infrastructure across the major continents. The Intelsat EpicNG platform is an innovative approach to satellite and […]
The existing joint-venture between Viacom and India’s Network-18 group has been restructured into IndiaCast which will now take care of distribution of the operation’s channels in India and overseas. Anuj Ghandi will head up the 26-channel operation as CEO. The concept is that IndiaCast will create India’s first multi-channel, multi-platform ‘Content Asset Monetisation’ business, and […]
Noorsat, the Bahrain-based satellite services provider, has signed an uplink deal with its host country. Bahrain’s Information Affairs Authority signed a multi-year agreement with Noorsat effective immediately to carry Bahrain’s TV stations onto its capacity. Norsat has access to satellite transponders on various Eutelsat satellites as well as Nilesat and Arabsat. Noorsat CEO Omar Shoter […]
Italian DTH platform TivùSat ended the first half of 2012 with over 1,453,213 active smart cards on May 31. This data indicates a constant growth of activations, at a pace of about 1,200 smart cards per day. An estimated 4.90 per cent of Italian households are equipped to receive TivùSat, which currently airs 61 TV […]
Media management and global content delivery specialist GlobeCast has signed a deal with Phoenix Chinese News & Entertainment Ltd (PCNE) to deliver Info News — one of the broadcaster’s premier news channels — to continental Europe via the Eutelsat 9A (formerly Eurobird 9A) satellite. Phoenix will bring Info News, already present in Asia and the […]
Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) says it is busy “evaluating” the North solar panel array non-deployment on Intelsat-19, launched May 31st from the Sea Launch floating launch site in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The satellite builder stresses that all other functions on the satellite, including the South solar array, are working nominally, and that the […]