E-letter: News Feed

The long-awaited acquisition of General Instrument (GI) was concluded last week when Motorola absorbed the box-making company in a stock swap that sees GI shareholders take a 17 per cent […]

Satellite builders are facing mounting criticism about a falling off in quality in the wake of problems such as those currently faced by Matra Marconi Space (MMS). However, sources within […]

One of a pair of Yamal-100 telecommunications satellites launched from Kazakhstan on September 7 has failed to make contact with the ground, according to its project engineers. The craft were […]

Discovery Network Europe and Russia’s NTV Plus have officially confirmed their joint plans for the broadcasting of three digital showcase channels in the territory of Russia, the CIS countries and […]

Lockheed Martin can proceed with its planned 49 per cent acquisition of satellite communications company Comsat, the Federal Communications Commission confirmed last week. The US Justice Department has now also […]

French digital satellite platform TPS has announced details of how it will use the hard disk storage system that is to be built into its set-top boxes by receiver manufacturer […]

Jerry Glover, managing director of National Geographic Channel Europe, has left the company to become commercial director at Yahoo! Europe. He is replaced by veteran channel specialist John O’Loan, who […]

Fifty editorial and production staff will be lost as a result of schedule changes on BBC World, the BBC’s flagship overseas news channel. Out will go BBC World’s long-form The […]

BBC Prime has managed to retain direct-to-home satellite capacity in the German market after reaching a new agreement with the Premiere World platform. The entertainment channel had, like a number […]

Sharp contrasts between the viewing patterns of DF1 subscribers compared to their Premiere counterparts have emerged ahead of the merger between the two platforms. The information was revealed by Premiere […]

Still suffering from the aftershocks of the Asian financial crisis, AsiaSat has announced reduced turnover of HK$376 million (pounds 30 million) for the first half of 1999, down 19 per […]

SES revealed its half-year results (to June 30) on Monday. These showed buoyant growth in all areas, benefiting from its investment in AsiaSat last December. Revenues increase to Euro340.4 million […]

On September 6 Moscow-based REN-TV, one of the biggest private Russian channels, started broadcasting via Gorizont-43 at 40 degrees East using four transponders which should help to increase a number […]

BSkyB has taken a 9 per cent stake in Leeds United FC for Pounds 14 million. The deal will allow BSkyB to act as exclusive media agent for Leeds Sporting, […]

Marc Tessier, the recently appointed head of France Television, said that plans to start a time shifted version of terrestrial channel France 2, France 2 Bis, have been abandoned, when […]

In a decision which will make Eutelsatis Hot Bird position at 13 degrees East more popular in German-speaking Europe, German public broadcaster ZDF has announced it plans to remain on […]

Jacques Espinasse, the Director General of TPS, said that new subscriptions over the summer were up 25 per cent compared to the same period last year, the same figure cited […]

Studio Universal, the second German-language channel operated by Universal after 13th Street, launched, as planned, on 1 September at 2200 CET with Pulp Fiction. The pay-TV channel, part of DF1, […]

The board of German media group Pro Sieben Media AG has elected Swiss economic jurist Urs Rohner as its new chairman. The decision was made unanimously, Pro Sieben said in […]

CNN Internationalis joint-venture news channel in Turkey has had its launch delayed slightly because of the recent earthquake. Originally scheduled for September 14, the launch date is now slated for […]

Game Network, the digital TV channel about videogames and multimedia entertainment, is to launch on Eutelsat of September 17. The channel will broadcast free to air via Eutelsat Hot Bird […]

Italian communications minister Salvatore Cardinale has confirmed that Italian public broadcaster RAI could be partially privatised in four to five months time. Speaking in Telese on August 31, Cardinale said […]

Key: D=Digital A=Analog 116 degrees E: Koreasat-1/2 (Also known as Mugungwha) D According to Korean sources Koreasat-3 is to be positioned at 112.5 degrees East and not alongside the earlier […]

Berlin-based commercial radio station Spreeradio 105.5 is from now on available Europe-wide on Eutelsatis Hot Bird position at 13 degrees East. The satellite launch, which took place during the Internationale […]

As the latest Internet-via-satellite service skyDSL launches into full operation, Interspace surveys the range of offerings showcased at the Internationale Funkausstellung in Berlin… Berlin-based multimedia company Strato Medien AG launched […]

The worldwide corporate business channel from American-German automobile company DaimlerChrysler launched on September 1 at 1100 CET. The service, called DCTV, is the worldis first global TV channel for employees […]

Following its recent carriage agreement with Media Mostis NTV service in Russia, Discovery Networks Europe is close to signing a carriage agreement for three of its digital ëshowcasei channels in […]

Proton launches have recommenced from Baikonur. A Proton-K launched a the first two Yamal-100 craft on the night of September 5/6, following the reported payments last week of back rent […]

The subscribers of Swiss pay-TV channel Teleclub are to get free second generation d-box decoders. As part of the change in the transmission system from analogue PAL to digital MPEG-2/DVB, […]

It is believed that a decision is close on the shape of Nat-Geo 2, the second channel National Geographic intends launching before year-end. Jerry Glover, who heads National Geographic’s UK […]