E-letter: News Feed

105.5 degrees E Asiasat-3S A. Sahara TV, an Indian channel with studio facilities in Bombay (Mumbai) and Delhi, is to lease a 36 MHz C-Band transponder here to relay its […]

Canalsatellite was fined and ordered to pay damages of Fr750 (Euro 114) plus costs of Fr700 each to seven subscribers by a court in Marseilles last week for not having […]

Telenor intends to invest up to DM2 billion (Euro 1 billion) in Germany within the next three years. A new subsidiary, Telenor Deutschland, will offer a large variety of services, […]

According to managing director Dieter Gorny, German music channel Viva’s flotation is now planned for late summer. At a presentation of Viva Zwei’s revised schedule he said that the channel […]

European Radio Network (ERN), a subsidiary of London-based World Radio Network (WRN), has launched EuroMax on Astra (19.2 degrees East), replacing WRN’s German-language service. EuroMax Deutsch re-broadcasts selected German-language programmes […]

Leading Italian commercial broadcaster Mediaset has set out ambitious plans for global expansion, together with European partners, as well as for the launch of new pay-TV channels for the Italian […]

The U.S. civil space program closed a chapter of space exploration when NASA officially ended all attempts at contacting the Mars Polar Lander Jan. 17 after a month-long effort in […]

Although a U.S. defense satellite intelligence system experienced serious Y2K problems with permanent loss of data, the GPS system functioned as expected through the year-end rollover, according to the military […]

Professor Joseph Pelton of George Washington University in Washington will receive the annual Arthur C. Clarke Award at the Satellite 2000 conference on Feb. 2. The award will be presented […]

A Founders Conference for the new Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Telecommunications and Information (CITI) will be held at Intelsat’s headquarters in Washington on Feb. 5. Events will include video […]

TRW Inc. [TRW] has made several changes within its California-based Space & Electronics Group (S&EG): Joanne Maguire is appointed vice president of group development for S&EG. She will oversee all […]

Satel Conseil, a French Satellite communications firm, has made two key management moves: Paul Michel Pignal has been named president, replacing the retiring Michel Popot. Pignal comes to Satel Conseil […]

At our deadline, no space-industry companies had reported any major (or even minor) Y2K problems, which clearly was a relief for the hundreds of thousands of people working worldwide in […]

Professor Joseph Pelton of George Washington University in Washington will receive the annual Arthur C. Clarke Award at the Satellite 2000 conference on Feb. 3. The award will be presented […]

Pace Micro Technology’s share price rose a dramatic 101p (from 498.5p) following its half-year results (to December 4) announcement on Monday. The share price shows a dramatic recovery since the […]

Satellite operators in Europe have forged ahead with digital interactive service launches, leaving the competition from cable behind. At the Western Show in Los Angeles last month, Open TV’s Vincent […]

Interspace’s in-depth look at activity on Europe’s transponders Key: D – Digital A – Analogue 57 degrees E: NSS-703 A – RTNC, La Voix du Peuple from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic […]

As previously anticipated in Interspace, Fox Kids has confirmed it will launch an Italian-language channel on Italy’s Stream digital bouquet. The new channel will launch on April 1. The new […]

The first of the four regional general interest channels for North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany’s largest state, that were licensed at the end of last year, has started test broadcasts. NRW TV […]

IP telephony pioneer TeleNet Communications has signed a contract with Kingston TLI for one of the first ever voice over IP transmissions using GEO satellites. Kingston TLI has been signed […]

French conglomerate Vivendi last week issued a statement denying that its 24.4 per cent stake in BSkyB meant it exerted any material influence on BSkyB. Vivendi’s comments were made in […]

Germany’s Kirch Group said on Monday it is in talks to pull another investor on board its loss-making pay-TV operations following last month’s much-anticipated entry by media mogul Rupert Murdoch. […]

Giovanni Minoli, a former executive at Italian pubcaster RAI, on December 15 was appointed general director of digital TV operator Stream. At Stream, which is partly owned by Rupert Murdoch’s […]

In an unexpected move, Luxembourg-based European media group CLT-UFA has agreed with Rupert Murdoch to take over the latter 49.9 per cent stake in German general interest channel VOX, thereby […]

Hessischer Rundfunk (HR), the Frankfurt-based regional affiliate of German public broadcaster ARD, has launched its economic and financial news radio channel hr-skyline on the Astra satellite system (19.2 degrees East) […]

ICO Global Communications, the would-be global mobile satellite operator, began the new year still stalled in Chapter 11 bankruptcy while awaiting its potential saviours Craig McCaw (Teledesic) and Subhash Chandra […]

Italian content provider Sitcom Spa has announced ambitious plans for this year which include the launch of a multimedia portal and a public flotation. Two years ago, when Rome-based Sitcom […]

Spain’s Canal Satelite Digital (CSD) surpassed the barrier of 800,000 subscribers by the end of December, confirming its lead over rival Via Digital. In absolute numbers Catalunya has more subscribers […]

KurdSat, a new Kurdish satellite channel started TV transmission on January 1 2000. KurdSat programmes are on Eutelsat W2 at 16 degrees east, 11489.2 MHz/horizontal polarisation daily from 2010 until […]

Echostar launched a satellite set-top box with built-in DVD player at last week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Priced at $399, it will be available to the mass market […]