Dish Network, the second- largest US satellite-television provider, is considering a video-on-demand service to offer Hollywood movies about eight weeks after they’re released, said an executive. The service would likely have terms “similar” to those of DirecTV, including a price tag of about $30, according to Tom Cullen, a Dish executive vice president. DirecTV, the […]

Western Europe posted over 182 million TV households at end-2010, 40 per cent of which are watching TV via terrestrial platforms, 27 per cent via cable and about 26 per cent through satellite, either free-to-air or through paid subscription. The IPTV subscriber base represented about 7 per cent of the total base. InfoCom expects that […]

Satellite operator SES, as at March 31st, was fully using 995 transponders out of a fleet total of 1249 (79.7 per cent, and up 32 transponders on the same period last year) with markets like India filling “every available transponder” on its SES-7 craft and is the reason why SES has ordered a new 33-transponder […]

Eutelsat and the Russian Satellite Communications Co (RSCC) are again linking up to further develop the 36 deg East ‘hot spot’ for Russian broadcasting.  A ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ was signed in Moscow May 10 by Yuri Prokhorov, Director General of RSCC, and Michel de Rosen, CEO of Eutelsat and, in the presence of Igor Shchegolev, […]

The operational performance and commercial practices of the top four satellite operators, Telesat, SES, Intelsat and Eutelsat, have been evaluated by teleport operators in a new research study undertaken by Futuresource Consulting. The study, commissioned by The World Teleport Association – the trade association focusing on the business of satellite communications – was carried out […]

Yahsat is the Abu Dhabi satellite operator which saw its first craft, Yahsat 1A, launched on an Ariane rocket in April, and is now contemplating ordering a third satellite. Yahsat already has its second satellite under construction for launch this coming winter. Yahsat CEO Jassem Al Zaabi says his business is doing very well in […]

NHK Worlds HDTV feed has launched on the BSkyB and Freesat platforms over the UK.  GlobeCast is providing re-encoding, uplink, and capacity on Eutelsat’s Eurobird 1 satellite, bringing the channel to a new community of over 10 million Sky subscribers, and over a million Freesat viewers. Available on BSkyB EPG channel 507, NHK World HD […]

UK satellite operator Inmarsat has reported a 23 per cent rise in first-quarter core earnings, boosted by growth in its maritime unit that eased concerns about its performance after a badly received statement in March. The provider of telecommunications to ships, aircraft and military and aid services in remote areas said its core earnings rose […]

Harmonic has announced that TV Azteca, the second largest broadcaster in Mexico, has deployed Harmonic’s IP-based video processing solutions to facilitate satellite distribution of its expanded HDTV service to hundreds of retransmission sites throughout Mexico and Central America. The new DVB-S2-based distribution system relies on Harmonic’s multifunction compression and stream processing solutions to reduce the […]

GlobeCast and Japan International Broadcasting, JIB) have announced that NHK World HD has launched on the Sky and Freesat platforms in the UK. GlobeCast provides re-encoding, uplink, and capacity on Eutelsat’s Eurobird 1, bringing the channel to a new community of over 10 million Sky subscribers, and over a million Freesat viewers. Available on Sky […]