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MTG STAYS IN THE BLACK
Modern Times Group stayed in the black for the financial year 1999. “During the two last years we have produced a swing of more than half a billion kronar from […]
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BETTING VIA CANALSATELLITE
Canalsatellite made a flurry of announcements at the Milia event in Cannes (February 14-18) concerning its interactive services. A service for betting on horse races is to launch in April, […]
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CANAL HORIZONS FOR ALGERIA
Canal+ Horizons, the Canal Plus channel for Africa and the Middle East, is to launch a digital platform for Algeria, transmitting from Hotbird. The bouquet will contain 17 channels to […]
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MEDIASET TAKES CFN STAKE
Italian private TV group Mediaset on February 6 bought a 10 per cent stake in business news channel Class Financial Network (CFN), backed by financial publisher Class Editori and a […]
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TIME WARNER BUYS INTO CSD
Time Warner has bought a 10 per cent stake in Canal Satélite Digital (CSD), putting an end to speculation that Canal Satélite’s majority owner, Sogecable, planned to sell the platform […]
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ARTE TO START THEMATIC CHANNELS
La Sept/Arte, the French arm of the Franco-German arts channel Arte, is setting up unit for thematic channels, headed by Helene Mochiri. The first of these, in partnership with Robert […]
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CGG GETS NEW MANAGEMENT
Stream shareholder Cecchi Gori Group (CGG) has appointed Sebastiano Rigano as general director of its ailing TMC TV networks. Contrary to published reports, Vittorio Cecchi Gori will continue as president […]
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NEW BUSINESS MODEL DELAYS LUXSAT
Luxsat, which plans to offer a push-based service for distributing films and web content over satellite, has changed its tack. The original project was to broadcast films in encrypted form […]
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CANAL FREEZES TALKS WITH ENEL
French pay-TV operator Canal Plus has frozen negotiations with Italian electrical utility Enel to sell a 30 per cent stake in the French group’s Italian digital platform Telepiu. On February […]
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GAME ONE CHANGES TACK
One and a half years after its launch, Game One, the games channel owned jointly by Canal Plus and electronic games publisher Infogrames, is changing tack and has secured considerable […]
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UNIVERSAL SUES KIRCH
Hollywood movie studio Universal has lodged a complaint against Kirch Group. Universal accuses the Munich-based media company of breach of contract and is claiming compensation for damages. With its lawsuit […]
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SHOWTIME PREPARES TO EXPAND
Middle-Eastern platform Showtime, aiming to hit up to 200,000 subscribers by the end of the year, is now looking to expand, Showtime’s president Peter Einstein talked to Interspace about his […]
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TRANSPONDER MONITOR
80 degreesE: Express-6 Intersputnik is to launch two new Express craft this year. Express-6A will lift off in early March and will be located at 80 degrees East and is […]
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MBC DENIES SALE RUMOURS
Staff at Middle East Broadcasting Centre (MBC) have raised concerns that the Arabic-language station is to be sold. The rumours follow on from the recent decision by ARA Programming & […]
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NUVOLARI TAKES TO THE AIR
On February 14, Rome-based Sitcom SpA launched its latest thematic satellite offering – a channel dedicated to motorsport fans. Although Nuvolari will initially transmit 18 hours a day only in […]
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NEWS BYTES
Ariane flight 127, Japan’s Superbird-4 craft, was successfully launched last Thursday, February 17. The Ariane 44LP rocket, equipped with two liquid and two solid strap-on boosters, blasted off at 2204 […]
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SUCCESSFUL GARUDA 1 LAUNCH BOOSTS OUTLOOK FOR PT PASIFIK SATELIT
Satellite industry analysts are viewing the successful launch of the Asia Cellular Satellite (ACeS) satellite, Garuda 1, as a promising sign for major backer PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara [PSNRY] of […]
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LOCKHEED MARTIN PROCESSES FIRST ATLAS 5 INTERSTAGE ADAPTER
The first Atlas 5 conical interstage adapter arrived at Cape Canaveral Air Force Base, Fla., Feb. 10, and is being inspected by the launch operations team supporting Atlas Missions. Following […]
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RUSSIA FINDS RETURNED ROKET , BUT PAYLOAD STILL IS MISSING
An experimental rocket, launched last week by Russia, has been recovered by search teams after it successfully returned to Earth using Inflatable Reentry and Descent Technology (IRDT). However, those teams […]
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MURDOCH PONDERS SATELLITE SPINOFF
Rupert Murdoch is considering a spin-off of the global satellite operations of his News Corp. Ltd. [NWS] empire. The media mogul is in the process of reorganizing the News Corp. […]
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PANAMSAT GRANTED DIRECT ACCESS TO PERU
Peru’s Ministry of Transportation and Communications has granted the company a carrier license, enabling <ST>PanAmSat Corp. [SPOT]<E> to provide satellite-based Internet and telecommunications services directly to the Peruvian market. The […]
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ARIANESPACE PROVIDES FINANCING TO SEAL LAUNCH DEAL WITH START-UP ISKY
Arianespace has won a contract to launch two satellites for iSky’s proposed broadband service by offering much-needed financial help to assist the start-up company. The financing will allow iSky to […]
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HISPASAT GRANTED SATELLITE LICENSE IN BRAZIL
Brazilian telecommunications agency Agencia Nacional de Telecomunica has awarded Hispasat a license to operate in Brazil. Hispasat will be able to use its Hispasat 1C satellite to offer satellite-based telephony, […]
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NETSAT EXPRESS, CISCO TEAM UP TO OFFER INTERNET SERVICES TO UNDERDEVELOPED COUNTRIES
Hauppauge, N.Y.-based satellite Internet service provider NetSat Express announced an agreement with <ST>Cisco Systems Inc. [CSCO]<E> that will enable Cisco to build out its Internet infrastructure hardware in underdeveloped countries. […]
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BT IN AMERICA
British Telecom (BT) has opened a second North American teleport facility in Marina del Rey, California, close to Los Angeles. The centre will provide a full range of satellite, fibre […]
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ITALIAN FOOTBALL CHANNEL
Following the recent launch of a pay-TV channel dedicated to the Milan club, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) has come up with the idea of a launching a satellite channel […]
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SATELLITE FINANCE STRUGGLES IN WAKE OF DISASTROUS 1999
Satellite operators and builders will continue to struggle to secure finance for new projects (at least for the time being) in the wake of the highly publicised bankruptcies, launch failures […]
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ITALIAN PAY-TV PLATFORMS BOOMING
More and more Italians are opting for a subscription to a pay-TV service, with live Italian league football being the main crowd-puller, followed by movies and news/current affairs. Latest figures […]
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GREECE’S NOVA FINALLY ON AIR
Twenty one months after its initial planned launch date, the Greek Nova digital satellite bouquet has finally obtained a licence and is now officially on air. However, Greece seems set […]
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BRIGHT FUTURE FOR DBS
Stephen Blum, president of industry analysts Tellus Venture Associates, forecasts a buoyant future for DirecTV and Echostar’s DBS services over North America. He says that DBS, despite cable’s massive penetration […]