E-letter: News Feed

Chris Forrester, Editor A July 3 report from Merrill Lynch talks of US pay-TV DBS stocks being undervalued “as they do not properly reflect the operating leverage of their satellite […]

A major report from Merrill Lynch’s satellite analysts issued July 3 suggests the two major uncommitted global satellite players – PanAmSat and Loral Space & Communications – make interesting investment […]

PanAmSat issued somewhat mixed second quarter results, July 12. The Connecticut-based satellite operator revised its 2001 numbers to show consolidated full-year revenues in the range of $825 to $835 million, […]

Jorn Krieger, Munich In a landmark decision, the Swiss Upper House has ruled that Swiss local broadcasters Radio Top and Radio Framboise have to encrypt their satellite signals to comply […]

Granada’s three GSB channels, co-owned with BSkyB, moved into profit during the six months ending March 31. The three channels, Granada Breeze, Men & Motors, and Granada Plus, increased revenue […]

Belgian travel channel Liberty TV will join Germany’s digital pay-TV platform Premiere World on July 1. However, according to information obtained by Interspace, it will at first only be available […]

SES has demonstrated the capabilities of the Astra Broadband Interactive System to delegates at the Radio, Electrical & Television Retailers’ Association (RETRA) annual conference on the island of Jersey. By […]

According to US press reports, European satellite manufacturer Astrium has held talks in the last eight months over a possible link-up with Loral Space & Communications and separately Lockheed Martin. […]

Russia has exported four rocket booster units to India, with the option of the country taking a further three, allowing it to implement its satellite launch programme before 2005. The […]

New Skies Satellites has signed a major contract with the Taiwanese telecoms company New Century Info Comm (NCIC). Under it, NCIC will provide the telco, which was recently awarded fixed […]

In the week that Arianespace reported its first-ever loss in 20 years of operations, an industry report states that there is a capacity and manufacturing glut. “New satellites with transmission […]

Spain is at the forefront of the digital TV revolution, with three platforms competing in a market that already reaches more than two million subscribers. David Del Valle reports Spain […]

In line with our sister companies, Phillips Business Information and The Phillips Group, Phillips Global Media, publisher of Interspace, is rebranding as PBI Media. The name will be introduced across […]

Interspace’s in-depth study of European satellite activity compiled by Mike Fallon D – Digital A – Analogue 78.5 degreesE: Thaicom 2&3 D: MKTVSat from Macedonia has started in the RR […]

The future of horseracing consortium Go Racing is in serious doubt after the collapse of talks with the British Horseracing Board (BHB) over the supply of pre-race data. The Go […]

The chairmen of German public broadcaster ARD’s regional affiliates have given the green light to its participation in the global satellite-based German-language pay-TV channel planned in co-operation with fellow public […]

California-based middleware company OpenTV has bought struggling interactive specialist Static, which amongst other assets owns TV entertainment service Playjam. The deal sees OpenTV acquire all of Static’s shares in a […]

BSkyB will delay introducing its second-generation PVR digibox until a ‘hard launch’ now scheduled for Christmas this year. This is the second delay for the Pace Micro Technology-built XTV box. […]

Nobis TV, a new German teleshopping and product presentational channel, will launch in both analogue and digital on Astra (19.2 degrees East) on September 1. The service, which is based […]

A Worldspace official said last week that the company plans to launch its third satellite on Ariane later this year. The craft will provide coverage over South and Central America. […]

Telecom Italia’s business unit Satellite Services, which lists Telespazio as its principal operative asset, has announced several changes to its management structure. While Salvatore Pinto, the ex-CEO of Olivetti-Wang Global […]

NTL is considering selling its broadcast transmission business. Speaking at the Merrill Lynch TMT conference in London, CEO Stephen Carter said it is continuing with plans to create a tracking […]

The VSAT world, hitherto almost exclusively business-to-business or intra-business, is beginning to change. Such was the message conveyed by the third VSAT-2001 conference, mounted recently in London by ComSys. For […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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) […]

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 […]