Featured Stories

State-owned operator China Telecommunications Broadcast Satellite Corp. (Chinasat) selected Loral Space & Communications Ltd. [LOR] unit Space Systems/ Loral (SS/L) to build Chinasat 8, a hybrid satellite. The satellite, which replaces the Chinasat 7 satellite lost in a launch failure, will have 36 C-band transponders and 16 Ku-band transpon ders. SS/L plans in-orbit delivery in...

Hot on the heels of last month’s launch of the third Inmarsat 3 satellite, the KPN Group, the Dutch telecommunications giant, has launched a worldwide campaign to promote its Altus mobile satellite service. Altus uses Inmarsat mini-M service–delivered by the new satellites–to permit use of a laptop computer-size terminal for voice, data and fax capabilities...

The Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association (SBCA), working with a local retailer from Meade, Kansas, announced Jan. 15 it petitioned the FCC to preempt an "aggressive" Meade ordinance limiting satellite dishes. SBCA asks any retailer or consumer in similar circumstances to call 800/541-5981.

Haven’t seen enough DBS ads recently? Philadelphia-based Primestar Partners plans to uncork a $150 million marketing campaign this spring to lead up to its planned launch of 65 additional channels (to its existing 95 channels) on April 20. Boxing champion emeritus George Foreman will be spokes man for Primestar’s expanded-service marketing blitz, which will begin...

Tel Aviv, Israel-based VSAT manufacturer Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. [GILTF] completed its purchase of Melbourne, Fla.-based paging and satellite hardware manufacturer Skydata Inc. Gilat paid with approxi mately 8 percent of its ordinary shares, valued at $20 million. Samsung Corp. of Korea and Matra Marconi Space of France are Skydata investors and marketing partners, and...

Fiber-optic and satellite operator Vyvx Inc. announced Jan. 8 that it completed its purchase of MGS Services Inc., Viacom Inc.’s [VIA] broadcast adver tising distribution provider. MGS duplicates commercials and sends them via air freight for its corporate and advertising agency customers. The deal follows Vyvx’s recent buy of Cycle-Sat, a similar distributor. "Customers now...

The Argentine Nahuelsat consortium said last week that Princeton, N.J.- based GE American Communications Inc. [GE] agreed to buy a stake in the Latin American satellite venture. GE Americom, a leading player in the U.S. domestic satellite market, now owns 17.25 percent of Nahuelsat, which plans to offer satellite services across much of South America...

Horsham, Penn.-based Toner Cable Equipment Inc. announced that it now is a distributor of Ortel Corp.’s [ORTL] 3100/4100-series fiber optic link system, which enables satellite anten nas to be located up to nearly one mile from satellite receivers or cable TV headends. Toner will distribute the Ortel hardware throughout the United States, the United Kingdom...

Richmond, British Columbia-based Radarsat International and the Canadian Space Agency signed an agreement with Japanese space agency NASDA whereby NASDA will receive remote sensing data from Canada’s Radarsat satellite at one or more Earth stations in Japan. The bird is the first commercially oriented radar satellite; Radarsat International distributes its data. (Radarsat, 604/231-4913.)

Last month, Chatsworth, Calif.-based Schaeffer Magnetics Inc. delivered two solar array drive assemblies, related electronic controls and a lens-cover actuator to TRW Inc. [TRW], which is building the Lewis remote sensing bird for NASA’s Small Satellite Technology Initiative. (Schaeffer, 818/341-5156.)