There’s another suggestion floating around from DTH satellite giant DirecTV that a merger with rival Dish Network is a logical next step for the broadcasting pair. DirecTV’s CEO Mike White, speaking at a media conference in New York June 1st, said that there’s a lot to be said for a merger. He stated: “There is […]
Intelsat has announced that it has a problem with its latest satellite. Intelsat-19, only launched on May 31st, has – as yet – failed to deploy one its all-important pair of solar panels. Intelsat’s engineers reported the glitch late on June 1st. The word used by Intelsat is that there had been a “delay” in […]
Intelsat’s latest $250 million-worth of satellite was successfully launched aboard a Sea Launch rocket at 1.23 am (EDT) on June 1st. The launch took place from the Sea launch floating launch site in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Intelsat-19 was built by Space Systems/Loral and will provide extra C and Ku-band capacity over the […]
Italian DTH operator Sky Italia is set to launch its new Internet-based service Sky On Demand on July 1st, after a period of tests with a limited number of subscribers. Initially, Sky On Demand should be available to a wide range of customers, before being expanded to the entire subscriber base by November. Sky On […]
Brazilian pay-TV continues to expand at a spectacular rate. April saw a net growth in subs of 284,000 taking the total to some 13.95 million subscribing homes. America Movil (Net/Embratel) is the market leader with 54.2 per cent for its MSO Net and DTH Claro TV operations, numbering 7.57 million subs. The April growth was […]
Telenor Satellite Broadcasting (TSBc) has announced the signing of a contract with satellite television provider UPC DTH which will enable the expansion of its HD line-up at 1° West serving UPC Direct in Hungary, freeSAT in the Czech Republic and Slovakia and focussat in Romania. UPC DTH will add Eurosport HD and Eurosport 2 HD […]
The May 25th launch success of the Elon Musk-backed SpaceX Falcon rocket has resulted in a very prompt commercial order from Intelsat. Musk is perhaps better known as the co-founder of PayPal and the cash behind the all-electric Tesla car. However, the Falcon rocket system is now being claimed – by Musk – as the […]
China has signed a contract with Sri Lanka to build and launch a rocket for TV and telecoms use. The launch will be in 2015-16 and a new joint-venture company, SupremeSAT has itself signed an agreement with the Sri Lanka Board of Investment valued today at $20 million and which grow to around $320 million […]
Malaysia’s newest satellite Measat-3b isn’t due for launch until late next year but that hasn’t stopped Measat’s sister company Astro DTH reserving 18 transponders on the craft. Astro’s order is for the full anticipated 15-year life of the satellite. The order also means that Measat-3b is now 50 per cent full. Astrium is building the […]
DISH and the TV networks ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC are going to court on the legality of the introduction of a user-enabled commercial skipping technology branded AutoHop. DISH wants a declaratory judgment (for which it has filed in New York) while the networks are claiming (in the California court) that the device breaches their […]