Focus: Broadcasting

[Satellite TODAY 08-14-09] Sky Deutschland suffered major losses in the second quarter of 365.8 million euros ($518.16 million), the company announced in its 2009 second quarter financial results released Aug. 13.     The German pay-TV operator attributed the loss to its decision to discontinue the Premiere brand. The Premiere trademark was written off in Q2...

[Satellite TODAY 08-14-09] Bell Canada dropped its lawsuit against the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the broadcaster announced Aug. 13.     Bell did not give a reason for dropping the court action. The company filed the suit earlier this week in an effort to fight a bid by Canada’s major networks to begin charging...

[Satellite TODAY 08-13-09] Dish Network Corp. subsidiary, Dish DBS Corp. hopes to raise $1 billion in capital through a new debt offering, announced Aug. 12.     Dish Network said the net proceeds of the offering would be used for general corporate purposes. The notes are being offered in the United States and abroad.     On...

[Satellite News 08-13-09] BSkyB’s decision to launch a 3-D channel in the U.K. next year, announced Aug. 3, was motivated by the company’s belief that the 3D medium could become a commercial reality much quicker than expected due to low costs and the fact that the company is in the position to leverage its existing...

[Satellite TODAY 08-12-09] Latin American DTH service provider Sky Brasil has rolled out its new HDTV service based on a MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) digital video delivery solution from Harmonic, Sky Brasil announced Aug. 11.     The H.264-based solution is powered by: Harmonic’s DiviCom Electra 7000 encoders; the ProStream 1000 stream processing platform with DiviTrackIP statistical...

[Satellite TODAY 08-12-09] Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. (SingTel) has selected Comtrend Corp.’s Power Grid 902 adapter, based on DS2‘s Aitana powerline communication chipset, to create a secure home network to deliver access to content and entertainment on SingTel’s IPTV service, Mio TV, SingTel announced Aug. 11.     DS2 supplies compatible circuits and chipsets designed for service...

[Satellite TODAY 08-11-09] Dish Network Corp.’s second-quarter earnings dropped 81 percent, with net income falling from $336 million in 2008 to $63 million and revenues dipping 0.4 percent to remain near the $2.9 billion mark, according to the company’s financial results, released Aug. 10.     The company said that its operating expenses rose 16 percent...

[Satellite TODAY 08-11-09] Keystone Enterprise Services has been contracted by the Channel One News network to supply turnkey satellite network and support services for its school news broadcast, which reaches more than 6 million middle and high school students daily, Keystone announced Aug. 10.     Keystone, based in Utah, will beam Channel One signals via...

[Satellite TODAY 08-11-09] EchoStar Corp. more than doubled its profits in the second quarter of 2009, earning $101.8 million compared with $47.8 million in the same period in 2008, according to the company’s financial results released Aug. 10.     EchoStar said it made an investment gain of $110.1 million during the quarter and reported an...

[Satellite TODAY 08-11-09] Pay-TV operators in Asia have gained close to 6 million new subscribers in the first half of the year, according to research by Media Partners Asia (MPA) released Aug. 10.     MPA said that despite difficult economic conditions, the top 40 pay-TV operators in Asia have held up with a combined customer...