Focus: Broadcasting

[Satellite Today 11-10-08] CNN has selected SatLink Communications Ltd. to provide its broadcast contribution needs in Israel and the Palestinian Authority, SatLink announced Nov. 11.     CNN is using SatLink’s turnaround and uplink services for transmitting content from its bureaus in Israel and the Palestinian Authority to the NSS-7 satellite for reception at CNN U.S....

A Proton Breeze M rocket lifted a new ASTRA satellite into orbit from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, SES Astra announced. The satellite headed toward a prime orbital position 19.2 degrees East. It should be in final position in the next few weeks, and will begin commercial operation in January after on-orbit tests. It will provide...

[Satellite Today 11-10-08] Mobile Satellite Ventures (MSV) has filed comments recommending the expansion of satellite requirements to ensure reliable and interoperable communications to the public safety community in response to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission‘s plans to conduct a re-auction of the 700 MHz D block spectrum.     MSV’s filing recommends that the FCC modify...

[Satellite Today 11-07-08] Communications infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region requires flexibility, dependability and reach for the dissemination of bandwidth-rich content, according to David Ball, Intelsat’s vice president for the Asia-Pacific region, who addressed attendees of a special forum at United Nations Headquarters on Nov. 5.     At the forum, ‘Ensuring Pacific Connectivity,’ Ball outlined the...

[Satellite Today 11-06-08] CCTV, China’s largest broadcaster, has chosen GlobeCast for its distribution to the European market of its French language channel, CCTV-F, GlobeCast announced Nov. 6.     GlobeCast receives CCTV-F’s signal at its technical operation facility in Paris, where it is encoded and multiplexed for uplink. GlobeCast is also providing monitoring services to CCTV-F....

[Satellite Today 11-06-08] DirecTV saw its total revenues increase 15 percent to nearly $5 billion in its third quarter 2008 financial report released Nov. 6. The company’s Latin America revenues increased 49 percent to $658 Million.     DirecTV’s Operating Profit Before Depreciation and Amortization (OPBDA) increased 25 percent to over $1.2 billion with U.S. OPBDA...

[Satellite Today 11-06-08] Crawford Communications has expanded its broadcast recording and monitoring capabilities with the addition of a 12-channel Volicon Observer video monitoring and logging solution, the company announced Nov. 5.     The new system adds additional standard definition and high definition channels to an existing Volicon Observer implementation. With the addition of the channels,...

[Satellite News 11-06-08] Lucrative contract offers from Sirius XM Satellite Radio to its on-air content are key drivers of the company’s reported massive debt and may have to be renegotiated before they are up for renewal according to industry analyst, Tim Farrar.     “Now that there are no longer two players competing for that content,...

[Satellite Today 11-05-08] Thuraya is launching a new video streaming service, the company said Nov. 5. It is partnering with Quicklink to facilitate the transmission and delivery of extremely low latency, real-time broadcast video to users of the ThurayaIP service.     Quicklink is a UK-based solutions provider that caters to the media segment. Their video...

[Satellite Today 11-05-08] Bharti Airtel, a telecom services provider based in India, has launched Airtel digital TV based on a complete end-to-end system from technology partner, NDS, to secure, enable and enhance its Direct-to-Home (DTH) service, NDS announced Nov. 5.      NDS said its solutions enable Bharti Airtel to offer its subscribers advanced services to...