Focus: Broadcasting

Uplit and Cox Communications renewed a two-year agreement to provide satellite uplink services for Cox Sports Television (CST), according to a Nov. 29 statement. Since 2002, Uplit has transmitted CST to cable operators throughout the Gulf South. CST is the exclusive regional sports network of the NBA New Orleans Hornets, NFL New Orleans Saints, and...

To assist Dish Network customers losing their distant network channels, DirecTV on Nov. 29 launched a nationwide offer to provide those customers with $150 cash back. The offer also includes: no equipment or start-up costs, free standard professional installation for up to four rooms, 100 percent digital picture and sound on every channel, and a...

A substitute satellite for the failed Sinosat-2, planned to be China’s first direct-to-home broadcasting satellite, will take at least three years to develop, according to a Sinosat spokesman quoted by Xinhua. In the company’s first public admission that Sinosat-2 suffered a Nov. 8 technical failure, spokesman Fan Xinming said the satellite failed when the solar...

Alcatel announced Nov. 28 the successful demonstration of Europe’s first broadcast of live TV channels on mobile handsets in S-band. Using the new satellite services for handhelds (DVB-SH) standard currently being drafted by the DVB Project, Alcatel was assisted by UK broadcasters Sky, ITV and BBC in Alcatel’s London offices. Representatives from European mobile operators,...

DirecTV Inc. announced it is now offering local HD programming to customers in the Green Bay, Wisc., Greensboro, N.C., Grand Rapids, Mich. and Providence, R.I., markets. The additions mean that DirecTV offers local HD broadcast channels in 49 cities, representing more than 65 percent of U.S. TV households. DirecTV plans to launch an additional eight...

SES Astra has revealed details of its latest contract for a new satellite, stating that it has awarded the contract for the design and construction of its Astra-3B spacecraft to Astrium. Astra 3B will be a Ku- and Ka-band satellite designed to distribute both direct-to-home (DTH) broadcast services and two-way broadband services across Europe. Astra...

BSkyB, a satellite pay-TV operator in the United Kingdom, has announced that it will take a stake of nearly 18 percent in commercial broadcaster ITV. The total cost of the acquisition is 940 million British pounds ($1.78 billion). BSkyB said the acquisition has taken place without the prior knowledge of the ITV board of directors,...

Claudio Martini, governor of Tuscany, has requested a Rai International satellite channel to promote Italian tourism worldwide. In a Nov. 18 letter to Rai president Claudio Petruccioli, Italian culture minister Francesco Rutelli and regional conference president Vasco Errani, Martini presented his proposal at the international convention on tourism of Confesercenti in Borgo la Bagnaia, Siena....

A People’s Republic of China communications and broadcast satellite is failing less than a month into orbit because of malfunctioning solar panels, according to Internet reports. In a Nov. 20 article, the South Africa-based Independent Online cited the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy (ICHRD) for a report that the satellite’s main...

A request by ICO Global Communications to delay construction of its geostationary satellite means the company’s plans to launch a hybrid satellite-terrestrial communications system will be pushed back even further, and could indicate that development of its system remains up in the air, according to one industry analyst. On Nov. 9, ICO filed a request...