Staff Writer

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

According to International Launch Services, the Atlas II, IIA and IIAS vehicles have achieved 100 per cent mission success with a tally of 45 successful flights. The string of consecutive […]

Spain’s Hispasat 1C, built by Alcatel, was successfully launched from an Atlas IIAS rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Station last Wednesday (February 2). International Launch Services co-ordinated the launch. Hispasat […]

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 […]

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 […]

Key: D – Digital A – Analogue 62 degrees E: Intelsat-602 D. Iran has joined the digital revolution at last. Sahar Universal Network, a cultural and educational channel, has launched […]

Independent analysts and investment bankers revealed markedly divergent views on the prospects for the future of global mobile at last week’s Sat 2000 conference in Washington DC… Mixed fortunes were […]

Austrian public broadcaster ORF has formalised its decision to use Kirch Group’s d-box encryption system Betacrypt for the satellite transmission of its domestic television channels on Astra (19.2 degrees East). […]