SES World Skies, a division of SES, has confirmed a new capacity deal on two SES satellites with transmission and live production provider Pacific Television Center aimed at expanding and enhancing the delivery of Trinity Broadcasting Networks’s Christian-based programming around the world. Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) is the world’s largest religious network and America’s most […]
A BBC overseas channel, BBC Persian TV, has again been jammed by illegal signals from Iran. A BBC statement says the interference started on Tuesday morning on the Eutelsat ‘Hot Bird’ satellite. “The BBC and Eutelsat condemn this deliberate interference,” said a press statement. Eutelsat is also formally complaining to the French representative (ANFR) signatory […]
Solaris Mobile, the JV between SES Astra and Eutelsat, has signed an agreement with Italian publishing giant Class Editori to launch a preliminary pay-radio service over Italy. The system will debut this year (in October) in Milan, hopefully rolling out to the rest of Italy during 2012. The service will comprise satellite-delivered and terrestrial transmission […]
Israeli satellite operator Spacecom has a problem with its Amos 5 craft under construction in Russia. Due for launch later this summer, the satellite has a component problem that needs a further battery of time-consuming tests. But the knock-on consequences could present Spacecom with a major problem given that its launch date will now almost […]
Seeing the writing on the wall that a vote in Parliament on Wednesday was likely to block its bid for Sky, News Corp has ‘tried to take the politics out of the bid’ and has unilaterally withdrawn its negotiated commitments to spin-off Sky News and has accepted this will mean a referral to the Competition […]
Digital TV Research forecasts that the number of pay DTH homes will be 195 million across 73 countries by end-2016, up from 139 million at end-2010. The Satellite TV Forecasts report estimates that penetration was 10.3 per cent of TV households at end-2010, and will reach 13.1 per cent by 2016. India will lead the […]
A new study states that Latin America’s cable distributors are converting to digital technology at such a pace that by 2016 some 90 per cent of subscribers will be enjoying digital services. Satellite TV is included in the mix but most DTH players are already transmitting digitally. According to the report “Pay-TV in Latin America […]
An Egyptian Court has formally ordered satellite operator Nilesat to remove 14 Libyan state-backed channels from transmission. MENA, Egypt’s official news agency, reports that the orders came from Cairo’s Administrative Court. Lawsuits issued by Libyan nationals, as well as Egyptian lawyers, and presented to the court state that the channels are being used by President […]
Ofcom is likely to investigate News Corporation’s proposed bid for satellite broadcaster BSkyB . Pressure on the regulator has ramped up as more revelations on the News International phone hacking scandal have poured out. On Friday morning the Prime Minister said Ofcom should take account of ‘the new circumstances’, and Simon Hughes, Deputy Leader of […]
A US Bankruptcy Court judge on July 7th approved the $1.37 billion sale of TerreStar’s assets to Charlie Ergen’s Dish Network. The deal means that Dish gets access to 20 MHz of satellite and matching terrestrial bandwidth. It is the third such acquisition for Ergen and represents a major shift away from its core DTH […]