In order to respond to the strong demand for additional DTH capacity in Asia, SES World Skies, a division of SES, has commissioned the SES-8 spacecraft from Orbital Sciences Corporation for a launch in the first quarter of 2013. SES-8 will feature 33 high-power Ku-band (36 MHz-equivalent) transponders and will be co-positioned with the NSS-6 […]
Elettronica Industriale, the network operator of Italy’s Mediaset Group, and satellite operator Eutelsat Communications have agreed a 12-year contract for capacity at the HOT BIRD video neighbourhood. The new contract for one transponder further consolidates a 20-year relationship between the two companies, increasing Mediaset’s HOT BIRD resources to five transponders. It will support Italy’s nationwide […]
SES Astra has concluded a multi-transponder, multi-year agreement with the German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF to secure satellite capacity for the transmission of HD programmes. The long-term agreement is for a total of five transponders on Astra’s prime orbital position 19.2 degrees East. The capacity will be brought into use in two steps, starting […]
EchoStar Corporation and Hughes Communications have agreed a deal which will see EchoStar acquire all of the outstanding equity of Hughes and its subsidiaries including its main operating subsidiary, Hughes Network Systems, LLC in a transaction valued at approximately $2 billion, aimed at creating a worldwide leader in satellite-delivered video and broadband services. Under the […]
Protostar 2, bought by satellite operator SES in December 2009 and re-named SES-7 (and operating from 108.2 Degree East), has won a major contract from the Indian market. SES says it has contracted a “multi-year, multi-transponder” order covering 12 Ku-band transponders with an unnamed client, serving the Indian DTH market. India is a hugely competitive […]
Shares in US digital satellite operator Dish Network rose sharply following a suggestion by financial services group Credit Suisse that telco AT&T may make a bid to buy the company. Credit Suisse analyst Jonathan Chaplin said in a note that AT&T could be interested in Dish’s wireless spectrum assets. He said these make Dish an […]
DirecTV, the US pay-TV broadcaster, is to launch 3net this weekend on February 13. 3net brings ‘the best of the best’ in 3DTV with content coming from Discovery, IMAX and Sony. On opening night, the channel will show China Revealed, Into the Deep 3D and Forgotten Planet. DirecTV promises that it will debut a new […]
London-based Travel Channel has changed its Asian signal feed from AsiaSat to Measat-3. It joins a powerful video neighbourhood on Measat-3 handled by GlobeCast including Nat-Geo, History Ch, TV5 Mode, FX and Fox Crime. GlobeCast says Travel will launch an HDTV channel later this year. “This move,” says GlobeCast, “allows Travel Channel to expand to […]
Middle East pay-TV operator Orbit Showtime Network (OSN) has launched a free app for iPhone, iPad and iPod subscribers to access OSN’s output across its 80-odd channels, as well as free-to-air channels available locally. “The new free OSN application ‘My OSN’ is the latest innovation from OSN to ensure TV viewers never miss a match, […]
Satellite operator SES is backing O3b, a new global high-speed Internet network. O3b, which stands for the “other 3 billion” of people with little or no access to the Internet, says it has signed a five-year global framework agreement with Etisalat Group, headquartered in the UAE and with more than 100 million customers across the […]