Focus: Broadcasting

The World Cup will take place in Africa for the first time, presenting unique challenges for broadcasters such as ITV, one of the biggest broadcasters in the United Kingdom. “This is a massively complicated world event which means that the technical planning had to start almost before the last tournament has ended,” says Roger Pearce,...

One of the major events in 2010 is the Winter Olympics, in Vancouver in February. The global spectacle will boost the local economy and make Canada the focus of global media attention during February. Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium, a unique relationship between leading media conglomerates CTV Inc. and Rogers Media Inc., will provide coverage....

[Satellite TODAY 02-01-10] BSkyB will preview its upcoming Sky 3D channel with a live broadcast of a U.K. Premier League soccer match to select pubs in the United Kingdom and Ireland, the company announced Jan. 28.      Sky 3D, scheduled for launch in April, will work with existing Sky+HD boxes and will initially be...

3-D HD broadcasting technology has been developing at a nice, quiet pace. Demonstrations at communications shows around the globe were followed by measured services introductions and an abundance of consumer market research. In March, Eutelsat Communications provided capacity to broadcast a live music performance that was filmed, transmitted and projected in stereo 3-D HD on...

[Satellite TODAY 01-29-10] RRsat Global Communications Network and Hispasat are cooperating to launch a Spanish and Portuguese language content distribution platform in Europe over the Hispasat 1D satellite, RRSat announced Jan. 28.     A Spanish-language version of Moscow-based news channel Russia Today is RRsat’s first customer for distribution through this platform.    “The European Spanish...

[Satellite TODAY 01-28-10] DirecTV and Dish Network have filed a lawsuit against the State of Massachusetts for imposing a statewide 5 percent tax on satellite services, the companies announced Jan. 27.     The suit, filed Jan. 26 at a Massachusetts state court, called the tax "discriminatory" because it applies only to satellite and not to...

[Satellite TODAY 01-28-10] Beirut-based satellite and wireless specialist IDMI has chosen Newtec’s FlexACM technology to boost capacity and availability on key satellite IP trunking links between Greece and ten customer sites in the Middle East, Newtec announced Jan. 27.     The FlexACM solution aims to increase IDMI’s bandwidth efficiency of the satellite transmission, lower operational...

[Satellite TODAY 01-25-10] Distribution services provider SatLink Communications has signed a long-term deal with Eurovision to provide turnaround services for contribution feeds to and from Asia, the company announced Jan. 25.     Satlink, which distributes video content via a worldwide hybrid system of fiber optic networks and satellites, will turnaround Eurovision’s sports and news transmissions...

[Satellite TODAY 01-25-10] Eutelsat has launched two new HD channels, RTL HD and VOD HD, on KabelKiosk, its digital channel platform for cable operators in Germany, the operator announced Jan. 22.     KabelKiosk’s German cable partners will immediately be able to offer this new option to their subscribers via Eutelsat’s Eurobird 9A satellite.     “We...

[Satellite TODAY 01-22-10] Broadcast Facilities Inc. (BFI), a media services company, has acquired Crawford Communications’ satellite services division, BFI announced Jan. 21.     BFI’s stock acquisition includes all of Crawford’s television network origination, teleport, satellite uplink trucks, Internet, production and the government services portions of the business.     BFI will combine Crawford’s Atlanta-based satellite business...