Focus: Broadcasting

[Satellite Today 03-04-09] GlobeCast has started transmissions of its new African DTH platform on SES Astra’s Astra 4A (Sirius 4) satellite, GlobeCast announced Mar. 3.     The platform, located at 5 degrees East, aims to provide sub-Saharan Africa’s widest and most powerful coverage and is the first Ku-band DTH platform with coverage in the region....

GlobeCast has launched a new fiber and satellite link to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and is finalizing plans for a connection to Jordan Media City (JMC) in Amman, which is expected to go live in April, GlobeCast announced Mar. 4.     The new link will help facilitate joint ventures between the JMC and...

Megahertz (MHz), an independent systems integrator, has launched a partnership with Greenland International Enterprises, a trading company based in Doha, Qatar, providing Megahertz with an established broadcast facility in the Gulf, the company announced Mar. 4.     Megahertz said the move was made to address the needs of the expanding regional market as broadcasters’ continue...

Pak Datacom, a satellite network operator in Pakistan and Bangladesh, has deployed an iDirect series 15000 universal satellite hub in Karachi, Pakistan, iDirect announced Mar. 4.     The manufacturer said that the next-generation network, based on DVB-S2 with adaptive coding and modulation (ACM), is an effort to meet growing demand for satellite broadband connectivity from...

Military operations in Iraq have been a good source of revenue for satellite operators, network providers and equipment manufacturers for several years, and as President Obama sets his date for pulling U.S. troops out of the country, the talk among the satellite sector is what this means for capacity demand in Iraq and the rest...

A number of leading executives said advances in technology are dramatically changing the broadcast landscape in the Middle East and broadcasters may be in for a tough time in the region.     The proliferation of new technologies as well as the different ways people are consuming content, means the environment for broadcasters is coming ever...

Thuraya provides mobile satellite services in more than 140 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East and has unveiled an ambitious strategy to attack new markets. This year has seen the operator make more of a push into Asia as well as target broadband markets with the release of ThurayaIP, a mobile broadband...

[Satellite News 03-04-09] U.S. Congress has scheduled to review and reauthorize cable and satellite copyright license laws associated with pay-TV in 2009 after the U.S. Copyright Office recommended the elimination of two compulsory licenses that give satellite and cable the right to broadcast copyrighted works, Dow Jones Newswires reported Feb. 26.     Register of Copyright...

[Satellite Today 03-04-09] Entertainment Studios has chosen Crawford Communications to transmit six high-definition (HD) television networks initially launching on Verizon’s FiOS TV, the company announced Feb. 24.     Entertainment Studios sends HD content from its Los Angeles headquarters to Crawford’s hub in Atlanta for turnkey HD origination services; Crawford then uplinks the signals to SES...

Satconsult, based in Ghana, has signed a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract for high speed, low latency IP trunking from O3b Networks, the company announced Mar. 4.     O3b Networks will provide their managed carrier service, Quick Start, to help Satconsult expand their services throughout East and West, sub-Saharan Africa.     “For far too long, there...