South Africa will complete the process of migrating from analogue to digital television by December 2013, Communications Minister Radhakrishna Padayachie has stated. The analogue switch off date was originally set for November 2011 but has since been changed to December 2013 by government. The minister also confirmed South Africa would adopt the DVB-T2 standard for […]
ViaSat has rescheduled the launch of its high-capacity satellite ViaSat-1 with International Launch Services (ILS) to summer 2011. The delay provides additional time for repair and testing after the satellite was damaged while being moved during the testing process. All costs related to the repair and re-testing of the satellite are being assumed by the […]
Measat Satellite Systems has confirmed an agreement for the provision of two additional Ku-band transponders to Sun Direct. This agreement expands Sun Direct’s capacity on the Measat fleet to four transponders, making Measat-3 the prime satellite for its DTH service. Measat is a premium supplier of satellite communication services to Asia’s leading broadcasters, DTH platforms […]
ViaSat-1, the giant consumer broadband satellite being built for the WildBlue Ka-Band system over North America, has been damaged at the Space Systems/Loral facility. The damage occurred as the satellite was being moved within Loral’s Palo Alto facility. It had been due to be launched this spring on an ILS/Proton rocket from Kazakhstan, and this […]
Following the successful completion of all scheduled manoeuvres since launch, the KA-SAT satellite of Eutelsat Communications is now positioned at its definitive location in geostationary orbit at 9 degrees East. On January 8th the satellite’s payload was switched on, enabling Europe’s first High Throughput Satellite to begin a series of in-orbit tests, which will be […]
Kuwait is home to a number of satellite TV channels, many operating without a formal licence. Kuwait’s information ministry has ordered that these stations be immediately closed down. BBC Monitoring is quoting Kuwaiti daily Al Jareeda saying: “The decision aims to regularise the work of the satellite channels and curb abuses by some of them,” […]
DigitAlb, Albania’s leading pay-TV platform, has secured its satellite resources for digital broadcasting with Eutelsat Communications to June 2020. The company has extended for an extra three years its contract with Eutelsat for five transponders on satellites operating at its 16° East video neighbourhood. The platform has more than 300,000 Direct-to-Home subscribers both in Albania […]
On December 5th a Russian Proton rocket flight was catastrophically aborted when its Block DM-3 upper stage failed. The rocket was carrying 3 sat-nav satellites. The problem caused an immediate knock-on delay for other scheduled users of Proton, including Eutelsat’s massively important KaSat craft. A Board of Enquiry found that the upper stage had been over-filled […]
Once there were three fierce rivals competing for pay-TV loyalty in the Middle East. In July 2009 Showtime and Orbit merged their competing services into the Orbit-Showtime Network (OSN). Now Arab Radio & Television (ART) has placed its five leading entertainment channels onto the OSN system. ART Aflam 1 and 2 plus ART Hikayat 1 […]
UAE-based telco du is planning to be among the first companies in the Middle East to provide its customers a 3D TV viewing experience. The company has confirmed that its video-on-demand service is now 3D-capable and has started airing its first 3D content. Du has struck a deal with the UK’s On Demand Group to […]