Archive

In an unexpected move, Luxembourg-based European media group CLT-UFA has agreed with Rupert Murdoch to take over the latter 49.9 per cent stake in German general interest channel VOX, thereby […]

Germany’s Kirch Group said on Monday it is in talks to pull another investor on board its loss-making pay-TV operations following last month’s much-anticipated entry by media mogul Rupert Murdoch. […]

IP telephony pioneer TeleNet Communications has signed a contract with Kingston TLI for one of the first ever voice over IP transmissions using GEO satellites. Kingston TLI has been signed […]

As previously anticipated in Interspace, Fox Kids has confirmed it will launch an Italian-language channel on Italy’s Stream digital bouquet. The new channel will launch on April 1. The new […]

Interspace’s in-depth look at activity on Europe’s transponders Key: D – Digital A – Analogue 57 degrees E: NSS-703 A – RTNC, La Voix du Peuple from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic […]

Satellite operators in Europe have forged ahead with digital interactive service launches, leaving the competition from cable behind. At the Western Show in Los Angeles last month, Open TV’s Vincent […]

Pace Micro Technology’s share price rose a dramatic 101p (from 498.5p) following its half-year results (to December 4) announcement on Monday. The share price shows a dramatic recovery since the […]

UK television regulator the ITC was the sender of an unpleasant December 23 Christmas card in the shape of a Pounds 20,000 fine for GOD – The Christian Channel for […]

Paris Premiere is to be available via the TPS digital bouquet from February as well as on Canalsatellite. Paris Premiere is a 24 hour channel of programming on Paris culture, […]

UK digital terrestrial pay-platform ONdigital turned in slightly disappointing end-of-year subscriber numbers, at 552,000, a 34 per cent increase on the company’s third quarter status. Within that number CEO Stuart […]

Echostar launched a satellite set-top box with built-in DVD player at last week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Priced at $399, it will be available to the mass market […]

KurdSat, a new Kurdish satellite channel started TV transmission on January 1 2000. KurdSat programmes are on Eutelsat W2 at 16 degrees east, 11489.2 MHz/horizontal polarisation daily from 2010 until […]

Spain’s Canal Satelite Digital (CSD) surpassed the barrier of 800,000 subscribers by the end of December, confirming its lead over rival Via Digital. In absolute numbers Catalunya has more subscribers […]

Italian content provider Sitcom Spa has announced ambitious plans for this year which include the launch of a multimedia portal and a public flotation. Two years ago, when Rome-based Sitcom […]

ICO Global Communications, the would-be global mobile satellite operator, began the new year still stalled in Chapter 11 bankruptcy while awaiting its potential saviours Craig McCaw (Teledesic) and Subhash Chandra […]

Hessischer Rundfunk (HR), the Frankfurt-based regional affiliate of German public broadcaster ARD, has launched its economic and financial news radio channel hr-skyline on the Astra satellite system (19.2 degrees East) […]

Giovanni Minoli, a former executive at Italian pubcaster RAI, on December 15 was appointed general director of digital TV operator Stream. At Stream, which is partly owned by Rupert Murdoch’s […]

French conglomerate Vivendi last week issued a statement denying that its 24.4 per cent stake in BSkyB meant it exerted any material influence on BSkyB. Vivendi’s comments were made in […]

The first of the four regional general interest channels for North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany’s largest state, that were licensed at the end of last year, has started test broadcasts. NRW TV […]

by Cynthia Boeke In many respects, 1999 was a roller-coaster year in satellite history. It will be remembered as the year when two high-profile mobile satellite ventures declared bankruptcy, U.S. […]

By Theresa Foley Via Satellite’s annual crystal-ball gazing exercise, involving some of the top CEOs in the satellite industry, finds few surprises in store for the year ahead: too many […]

by Robustiano Fernandez With the beginning of a new millennium, much attention will be given towards taking stock of past achievements and setting new goals for the future. The commercial […]

by Stephane Chenard Well, here it is: the year 2000. It looks like personal helicopters are missing from the picture (but then, so are those unpleasant food pills and seceding […]

by Theresa Foley When will fiber make satellites obsolete? The question has been posed for decades, and now the answer appears to be…Never! New high-capacity undersea fiber cables with 50 […]

by Gerald E. Oberst Jr. In mid-November of last year, the European Commission adopted a wide-ranging review of the entire regulatory framework for electronic communications in Europe. This "1999 Review" […]

by Marc Crossman and Anh Steininger The year 2000 will be the breakout year for DirecTV. As of presstime, the President is expected to sign into law a bill that […]

by Peter J. Brown Several companies are making substantial contributions in terms of enhancing the performance of satellite networks. Greater reliability and efficiency means getting more bang for the buck […]

This will be the last issue of Interspace for 1999. We would like to wish our readers all the best for the holiday season. The first issue of 2000 will […]

Merlin Communications has secured a deal to transmit live Scottish Premier League football not available elsewhere on satellite with Albasat. The first match, Rangers vs Dundee, went out on November […]

Inmarsat’s board of directors has decided to proceed with the building of its fourth generation system at a cost of $1.4 billion. Requests for proposals have now been issued. As […]