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  • Global VSAT Review: The Truth About Myth

    by David Hartshorn Mythology is a source of great yarns, like Cassandra who was blessed with the ability to see the future, but who was cursed so that no one […]

  • Satellite Manufacturing: The Competition Heats Up

    By Nick Mitsis Even though the global satellite manufacturing business continues to triumph throughout an increasingly competitive marketplace, industry executives remain focused on ways to defeat the impediments that stunt […]

  • Earth Stations: More Than Transport

    By Peter J. Brown Last month we talked about how earth stations are in a state of flux with the projected growth in large facilities–Standard A earth stations–slowing considerably. At […]

  • Regulatory Review: Orbital Slot Limits–The System’s Not Broken

    by Gerry Oberst Recent press reports started a furor about rumors of possible International Telecommunication Union (ITU) efforts to limit the length of time that a satellite company can occupy […]

  • ELLIPSO LOSES LEO LICENCE

    It seems another planned LEO service has hit the financial brick-wall. Mobile Communications Holdings Inc. (MCHI), a Washington-based company planning to deploy the proposed Ellipso mobile satellite service (MSS) system, […]

  • SPANISH TOURIST CHANNEL ON AIR

    The Andalucian regional station RTVA and production company Andalucia Digital Multimedia have launched Canal Andalucia Turismo, a thematic channel dedicated to promoting tourism in Andalucia in the south of Spain. […]

  • THALES SECURES ORBITAL COMPANIES

    The French technology outfit Thales has agreed to buy Orbital Sciences Corps. Sat-nav companies for a reported $70 million (E82.7 million). Thales will now be one of the world’s three […]

  • DIGITAL CHANNELS FOR TUNISIA

    Tunisia’s radio and television transmission authority has announced plans to set up four digital channels in and around the cities of Tunis, Bizerta and Nabeul by the end of this […]

  • NASA FUNDING FOR KISTLER ROCKET

    Among NASA’s $767 million (E906 million) first-round Space Launch Initiative awards announced at last month’s Euroconsult Space Transportation Summit meeting was a grant of $135 million to Kistler Aerospace. This […]

  • BSKYB “AT A COMPETITIVE DISADVANTAGE”

    Investment bankers Morgan Stanley Dean Witter (MSDW) published a report on May 21 examining a portfolio of operators including BSkyB, Sogecable,UPC, NTL and Telewest. In it they suggested that Europe’s […]

  • BBC ELECTION INTERACTIVITY

    As the votes are counted in the British election on June 7, DTT viewers will be able to plug into the BBC’s election database as part of an enhanced television […]

  • FAILING VIVA 2 “TO BE SPUN OFF”

    “Viva is Germany’s No 1 music TV channel” according to a May 22 report from bankers Merrill Lynch, “and the company intends using its strong brand and experience to expand […]

  • INTELSAT MOVES INTO AFRICA

    Intelsat opened its first African office in Sandton, a Johannesburg suburb, on June 1. According to Conny Kullman, Intelsat’s CEO, some 8 per cent of the operator’s global revenue of […]

  • QVC IMPULSE BUY READY TO GO

    QVC has resolved technical difficulties that have prevented the home shopping service from offering an impulse buy facility on its Sky Digital feed. In the past few days QVC has […]

  • ELLIPSO LOSES LEO LICENCE

    It seems another planned LEO service has hit the financial brick-wall. Mobile Communications Holdings Inc. (MCHI), a Washington-based company planning to deploy the proposed Ellipso mobile satellite service (MSS) system, […]

  • GERMAN MTV 2 TO END ENCRYPTION OF DIGITAL ASTRA FEED

    In a move that would end the somehow absurd situation of transmitting free-to-air to analogue DTH viewers but not to digital homes, MTV 2 – The Pop Channel, MTV’s sister […]

  • ELSTEIN SLAMS UK ANALOGUE WASTE

    Former Channel 5 CEO David Elstein has roundly condemned current UK thinking on the analogue switch-off date, which will take place when 95 per cent of homes have converted to […]

  • BOOM IN GERMAN TRAVEL CHANNELS

    TV Travel Shop Germany launched on June 1 15.30 CET to a broad analogue DTH community in German-speaking Europe equivalent to more than 13 million homes. The channel, which transmits […]

  • IL SOLE 24 ORE LAUNCHES FINANCIAL TV CHANNEL

    The Italian financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore has officially launched a specialist business TV channel after a month’s trial. Known as Ventiquattrore.tv, the service – which has just secured […]

  • PACE UNVEILS NONE TOO BASIC RECEIVER

    The first fruits of Pace Micro Technology’s acquisition of French manufacturer Xcom were revealed at Mediacast in London last month, and the much-heralded ‘basic’ receiver turned out to be anything […]

  • GERMAN YOUTH CHANNEL RADIO 22 ON ASTRA

    Radio 22, a local FM youth channel based in Trier, intends to become available to a pan-European audience by transmitting on the Astra satellite system (19.2 degrees East). This was […]

  • EUROPEAN R&D: CNES V ESA, OR CO-OPERATIVE ROLES?

    Does the French space agency CNES aim to supplant the ESA in developing new communications satellite technologies? Earlier this year, CNES evolved a plan (TCS-21, Technology for Communications by Satellite) […]

  • IRAN’S FIRST ZOHREH “IN TWO YEARS”

    A Tehran news agency has reported that Iran will launch Zohreh, its Russian-built communications satellite, within two years. The agency quoted university professor Mehran Mirshams as saying that the Zohreh […]

  • TWO WAY INTERNET VIA SATELLITE SERVICE ON W3

    The number of two-way broadband Internet via satellite services keeps growing, with the latest new entrant being Galaxy 2000, operated by UK-based dealer Bentley Walker. The service which was recently […]

  • STATE LOSES MAJORITY IN DEUTSCHE TELEKOM

    Four and a half years after the beginning of the privatisation process, the German state is set to lose its majority stake in Deutsche Telekom. After the Bonn-based company’s take […]

  • TRANSPONDER MONITOR

    Interspace’s in-depth study of European satellite activity, compiled by Mike Fallon D = Digital A = Analog 100.5 degreesE: AsiaSat 2 D AsiaSat 2 capacity is to be used by […]

  • EDEL MUSIC LEAVES VIVA AS SHAREHOLDER

    The German music company Edel Music will sell its 12.1 per cent stake in VIVA to Initiatoren Drei Kapitalbeteiligung, a newly founded investment company formed by VIVA Media’s chairman Dieter […]

  • NEWS BYTES…

    UPC’s Polish digital DTH platform Wizja TV has started transmitting Telewizja Polska’s (TVP’s) two national channels TVP1 and TVP2. Although the move has been criticised by TVP – which was […]

  • MTG SWITCHES OFF ANALOGUE

    Sweden’s Modern Times Group (MTG) has confirmed that it has now switched off the analogue broadcasting feed for its Viasat Broadcasting satellite pay-TV channels, which include TV1000 and TV1000 Cinema. […]

  • PANAMSAT LINKS UP WITH THE EBU

    PanAmSat is to provide full-time video link services from the Americas in support of live coverage of prominent sporting and special events to the EBU, which represents 69 national broadcasters […]