E-letter: News Feed

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Complaints about a programme on Flextech-owned Bravo were upheld by the ITC this week. Real TV broadcast in October showed a story where a 13 year-old boy died in a […]

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 […]

A major solar flare on February 17 had the potential to do some serious damage to both geostationary and LEO satellites. When the superheated mass, known as a coronal mass, […]

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 & […]

Japan Satellite TV (JSTV) the analogue Japanese-language subscription service for expatriate executives living in Europe is to switch from analogue to digital transmission. Digital broadcasts are expected to start in […]

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 […]

Microsoft has confirmed that it will team up with Israel’s Gilat in the latter’s Gilat-To-Home subsidiary, which plans to offer two-way broadband satellite access to consumers. Microsoft will hold 26 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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. […]

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 […]

Boeing’s Sea Launch confirmed it had won a major contract with PanAmSat. The deal calls for a single launch in the second quarter of 2000 (of PAS-9, a Hughes-built HS601 […]

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 […]

Orbital Sciences and Teleglobe, partners in the Orbcomm LEO-based short messaging platform, have restructured the ownership of the company and increased its capital by approximately $100 million. Teleglobe becomes the […]

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 […]