Focus: Broadcasting

With the Beijing Olympics serving as a landmark event for China and the global broadcasting industry, many hoped the event would be the catalyst for greater things in terms of digital and multimedia services in the world’s most populous country. But nearly a year after the Olympics closed, have things really changed or has the...

[Satellite News 05-29-09] Nilesat hopes to have a new satellite up in May 2010 as it looks to bring new capacity to the severely constrained Middle Eastern market, CTO Salah Hamza told Satellite News.     “We have had challenges with our fleet in terms of gaining new capacity. We aim to have our new satellite...

[Satellite Today 05-29-09] Yahsat CEO Jassem Al-Zaabi is investing $100 million in YahLive, a direct-to-home service it plans to launch in the fourth quarter of 2009 with joint venture partner SES Astra, Yahsat said in a May 28 statement.     According to Al-Zaabi, SES Astra is investing $50 million in the project.     Al-Zaabi said...

[Satellite News 05-29-09] Microsoft announced a content deal with BSkyB to launch Sky Player Satellite TV on Xbox 360 consoles in the United Kingdom and Ireland this fall, Microsoft announced May 29.     On the same day, Microsoft revealed that its Xbox Live service, featured on its Xbox360 gaming console, has seen 136 percent growth...

[Satellite Today 05-29-09] Microsoft and Sky Television have signed a deal that will allow users in the United Kingdom and Ireland to watch BskyB satellite TV via an application on Microsoft Xbox 360 game consoles, Microsoft announced May 28.     The new application, Sky Player, will be launched on Xbox 360 in the fall and...

[Satellite Today 05-28-09] Measat Satellite Systems won a $189.2 million contract with Astro All Asia Networks to supply transponder capacity on the Measat-3a satellite, Measat announced May 27.     Measat will provide Astro’s subsidiary, Measat Broadcast Network Systems, with six Ku-band transponders on Measat-3a for a period of 15 years.     The satellite, manufactured by...

[Satellite Today 05-28-09] Microsoft and BskyB will announce a partnership to integrate functionality between Microsoft’s Xbox 360 gaming system and BskyB’s satellite TV service, according to a May 27 report from Rapid TV.     In July 2008, Microsoft made a similar partnership with over-the-mail DVD rental service Netflix to stream videos over Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE...

[Satellite Today 05-27-09] Japanese broadcasting technology company NTT Electronics selected Newtec to be its DVB-S2 technology partner for the development of its new integrated receiver decoder (IRD) unit, the HVD6100, Newtec announced May 26.     Newtec said the unit is the world’s first professional IRD to combine decoder functionality with a DVB-S2 demodulator and AVC/H.264...

[Satellite Today 05-26-09] The Canadian Radio and Television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has issued a mandate that Canadian TV networks will have to make larger investments in local programming and Canadian content if they are compensated for the value of the signals they provide to cable and satellite carriers, according to a May 25 announcement.   ...

[Satellite News 05-25-09] Bell, one of Canada’s largest telcos, hopes to bring a new ‘Freesat’ service to Canada next year, Mirko Bibic, Bell senior vice president of regulatory and government affairs, told Satellite News.     Bell said the company proposed this idea to the national regulator, Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) as a way...