Focus: Broadcasting

[Satellite Today 05-05-09] DirecTV will merge with its majority shareholder, Liberty Entertainment, in an effort to consolidate Liberty’s broadcasting and programming units, the companies announced May 4.     The new unit will take on $2 billion of Liberty’s debt and $30 million in cash. DirecTV also will make $650 million in Liberty loan payments. No...

[Satellite Today 05-05-09] Bezeq Israel Telecom will merge with Israeli satellite TV provider Yes, the companies announced May 4.     The conditions of agreement require Bezeq to raise its investment in Yes to 58 percent from 49.8 percent, pending approval from the Israel Supreme Court. A hearing on the merger will be scheduled for June...

[Satellite Today 05-04-09] Bell Canada is proposing a Freesat digital TV service to the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the company announced April 29.    Bell said believes the solution would save Canadian broadcasters millions of dollars in terms of constructing new digital infrastructure and that consumers would only be required to purchase a...

[Satellite Today 05-04-09] Giga-Com, a supplier of satellite and terrestrial microwave systems to the media and broadcast industries, has fulfilled a contract for the manufacture, integration and supply of 20 MLV digital portable microwave link systems to the Ministry of Information (MOI) of Kuwait, Giga-Com announced April 30.    The systems, which feature a 4-channel...

A time-honored inside joke gets played out each year the Friday afternoon we close up SATELLITE. Show director Jennifer Heinold tapes shut the last box of office supplies, eyeballs the remaining staff on hand and says, "Great work, everybody. Take the rest of the day off." From SATELLITE 2009, a day off is just about...

As technological advances in space and on Earth lead to a new generation of handheld receivers, the prospect of mobile satellite services (MSS) breaking into the consumer mass market with a host of innovative services grows stronger. In the beginning they offered voice. They also handled data, but speeds were slow and data throughput was...

Throughout the past few years, the names of major software companies quietly have crept into more and more satellite-related business developments. Google, Microsoft, Cisco Systems and Apple are just a few of the powerful software firms that have been partnering with satellite companies on a variety of projects. Whether it is to provide enhancements to...

[Satellite Today 05-01-09] BSkyB has reached 1 million high-definition (HD) subscribers according to the company’s first quarter results released April 30.     BSkyB said it reached its milestone after adding nearly 250,000 new HD subscribers in the first quarter — more than doubling its HD customer base since April 1, 2008.     The operator now...

[Satellite Today 04-30-09] France Telecom‘s earnings fell 4.4 percent due to costs associated with buying programming for its new television services in France, the company announced in its first-quarter financial report released April 29.     The company’s EBITDA fell to 4.3 billion euros ($5.7 billion) from 4.63 billion euros ($6.14 billion) in 2008 with sales...

[Satellite Today 04-30-09] NDS signed a contract with DoxTV, a value-added service provider in China, to bring digital TV services and Video-on-Demand to the country and provide an end-to-end suite of technologies to protect and enhance DoxTV’s business, NDS announced April 28.     DoxTV will use NDS’ VideoGuard conditional access, MediaHighware middleware, as well as...