Focus: Broadcasting

[Via Satellite 04-23-2014] PT. Digital Media Asia has launched a new prepaid Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite service with AsiaSat. The service, called VIVA+, targets the Indonesian pay-TV market using multiple Ku-band transponders on AsiaSat 5. VIVA+ initially offers two channels in HD and 35 in SD. Nine of these channels have been designated as the “Ultimate...

[Via Satellite 04-21-2014] Intelsat remains confident that Africa will become a powerhouse market for satellite services. The company currently has more than 20 in-orbit satellites focusing on the continent and plans to bring more capacity online through the EpicNG satellite Intelsat 33e in 2016. Africa has been a difficult market in the past due to...

[Via Satellite 04-18-2014] Sky Perfect JSAT signed an agreement with Space Systems/Loral (SSL) to procure two new satellites: JCSAT 15 and 16. The two satellites will be used for services such as video distribution, data transfer communications and back-up service capabilities in Japan and other areas of the Asia-Pacific region. Both satellites are being built...

[Via Satellite 04-18-2014] SES Broadband Services (SBBS) plans to expand its consumer Ka-band services to Germany and Italy over the company’s Astra 2E satellite. SBBS’s Internet Service Providers (ISPs) started offering broadband services on Gilat’s SkyEdge 2C platform, offering Voice-over-IP services and providing up to 20Mbps to private households and small businesses in Germany and...

[Via Satellite 04-17-2014] Broadcom released a six stream 802.11ac MIMO platform for home networks, in effect doubling the Wi-Fi speed compared to MU MIMO routers and gateways. The new platform offers data rates of up to 3.2 Gbps and is designed for data-intensive uses such as high definition streaming. The company’s Intelligent Quality of Service...

[Via Satellite 04-17-2014] A new documentary shot in Ultra-HD 4K by Rai Strategie and co-produced by Eutelsat had its first screening to media and industry personnel in Rome. The documentary is titled “Roma, Napoli, Venezia…in un Crescendo Rossiniano” and was directed by Lina Wertmüller. Eutelsat plans to broadcast the documentary in High Efficiency Video Coding...

[Via Satellite 04-16-2014] Airbus has successfully completed the final integration and testing of Measat 3b. The satellite was transported to Kourou, French Guiana for a dual launch with the SSL-built Optus 10 by an Arianespace Ariane 5 launcher. Measat 3b is the 36th  satellite based on the Eurostar E3000, and was designed with 48 Ku-band...

[Via Satellite 04-15-2014] An anomaly has been detected in Hispasat’s Amazonas 4A satellite’s performance of its power subsystem. Hispasat and Orbital, the company responsible for constructing the satellite, are looking into the possible causes of the anomaly. Amazonas 4A is secure in its geostationary orbit, in a position where in-orbit tests will be carried out....

[Via Satellite 04-15-2014] Azercosmos, an Azerbaijani satellite operator, has signed an agreement with Iveriasat, a Georgian Direct-to-Home (DTH) operator, for a long-term capacity lease and DTH platform launch on its Azerspace 1 satellite. Once uplinked to the satellite, the DTH platform will broadcast to Georgia, as well as Europe and the Middle East. The platform...

[Via Satellite 04-14-2014] MultiChoice, an African Direct-to-Home (DTH) operator, will expand its capacity on Intelsat’s 904 satellite to better reach its Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) offering in Sub-Saharan Africa. The increased capacity will allow MultiChoice to further develop its DTT GOtv product offerings in African countries where it already has a presence, such as Nigeria,...