E-letter: News Feed

NDS has decided to adopt Microsoft’s enhanced television solution based on open standards. Microsoft, in a statement, said the link with NDS would also be targeted at the current generation […]

Kinderkanal, the ARD/ZDF children’s television channel, will change its name to KiKa in May. The channel’s youngest viewers commonly use this abbreviation. The channel will also undergo a change of […]

Japan’s DirecTV Japan Inc has confirmed it is in talks with arch-rivals SkyPerfecTV to merge “and integrate” its operations. If the deal is concluded SkyPerfecTV, an operation of Japan Digital […]

Eagle River Investments, Craig McCaw’s investment management firm, has confirmed it will not pursue an investment in Iridium. Instead Eagle River said it will focus its satellite communications investments on […]

Italy’s Telepiu entered the new millennium with more than 1,480,000 subscribers, out of which more than one million have chosen its digital satellite platform D+. Telepiu currently operates both digital […]

As Dubai prepares to launch digital terrestrial, one of the most lucrative markets in the Middle East now faces a confusing plethora of multichannel options. Interspace assesses the latest entrants […]

Key: D = Digital A = Analogue 100.5 degrees E: Asiasat-2 D. MSTV is the name of a new channel originating from Taiwan which has just started to broadcast test […]

Interspace understands Eutelsat to be completing plans to commercialise new positions at 4 degrees East and 33 degrees East. It is believed that Eutelsat I-F5 will be moved to the […]

Australia’s Telstra has formed an alliance with BT Broadcast Services to provide joint broadcasting solutions for news, sports and special events. The deal comes ahead of the Sydney 2000 Olympic […]

Granada wants to set up a television network in Germany. The general entertainment channel is expected to launch as a digital pay-TV service with the necessary broadcast licence to be […]

MSS operator Globalstar has announced the full commercial availability of its mobile satellite phone service in North America. In the USA, Globalstar is targeting employees of industries in remote locations, […]

Sogecable reported its full year results on February 24, with revenues of Ptas 152 billion (Euro 914 million) and operating losses of Ptas 6.9 billion. Total subscribers, including analogue, stood […]

In its first set of results as a public company, Netherlands-based Fox Kids Europe has announced half year revenues of $52.3 million for the six months to November 30 1999, […]

Two new radio stations will soon extend the already broad variety of German broadcasters using a satellite feed to reach DTH homes. Chart Radio, the pop and rock channel from […]

Last year the former Drake Automation Limited (DAL) decided to move into operations, offering fully managed solutions with its own staff on site. It set up a unit called Digital […]

Bloomberg TV’s German-language service will move to another analogue transponder on the Astra satellite system (19.2 degrees East). From April 10, 0500 CET, the Frankfurt-based financial news channel will be […]

Vittorio Cecchi Gori is moving ahead with legal action against Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. and Telecom Italia, claiming they manoeuvred to oust him as their partner in pay-TV operator Stream […]

Exigent International Inc. [XGNT] recently announced that its subsidiary Software Technology Inc. has been approved by the U.S. State Department for use by DACOM, one of the largest telecommunications company’s […]

British Science Minister Lord Sainsbury announced a GBP 9 million program to help United Kingdom companies exploit opportunities in the satellite communications industry. Under the three year SATCOM program, U.K. […]

Foreign wire services report that a group of foreign specialists at the Baikonur Cosmodrome will determine the launch date for the Astra 1K satellite. The specialists consist of representatives of […]

Now awaiting White House approval, the Defense Department (DoD) plans a shift in its satellite procurement strategy that would affect both the content and the pace of GPS modernization, in […]

Driven by the desire to reduce launch costs, industry entrepreneurs are aggressively continuing launch vehicle development plans in hopes of ushering in cheaper, more reliable spacecraft that will enable the […]

St. Paul, Minn.-based Dart Transit Co. will use Qualcomm Inc.’s [QCOM] OmniTracs satellite-based mobile information management system for its fleet. Financial terms were not disclosed, but Dart Transit is purchasing […]

Middletown, R.I.-based KVH Industries Inc. [KVHI] filed suit in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island against in-motion satellite antenna competitor Datron/Transco Inc. [DTSI] for infringing a KVH patent. KVH is […]

Fremont, Calif.-based SSE Telecom Inc. [SSET] is shipping additional beta-test systems of its new iP3 broadband satellite Internet gateway platform. The first iP3 beta test systems, shipped by SSET two […]

Orbcomm Global L.P. value-added reseller, Intrex Data Communications Corp., of Vancouver, British Columbia, and Dallas, plans to merge with FiberChem Inc. [FOCS] of Las Vegas, Nevada. Financial details were not […]

Globalstar L.P. [GSTRF] service partner Telecommunications par Satellites Mobiles (TE.SA.M.) opened the newest Globalstar gateway in Los Velasquez, Venezuela, bringing the total number of fully operational gateways to 13. The […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]