Focus: Broadcasting

While in most markets in western Europe – i.e., France, Italy and Spain – consolidation has taken place in recent years, among DTH operators in the Nordic markets, competition between the operators Viasat and Canal Digital is alive and well. The two operators have around 1.7 million customers between them to dominate the pay-TV landscape...

ISAT.L Inmarsat Holdings Ltd. recorded revenue of $129.2 million in the 2006 third quarter, up 8 percent from the same period a year ago, the company said. The recently launched Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) service has contributed revenues of $3.2 million in the quarter. "Across the board it was a strong revenue and EBITDA...

Arqiva reached an agreement Nov. 17 to acquire the full-time service components of BT’s Satellite Broadcast Services business for 25 million British pounds ($47.2 million) in cash. The Satellite Broadcast Service unit provides full-time and occasional-use satellite services from six teleports — three in the United Kingdom, two in the United States and one in...

Arabsat has begun broadcasting a bouquet of 11 Iraqi TV channels via Arabsat’s constellation at 26 degrees East. The deal will enable the channels to be broadcast to Middle Eastern and North African audiences of 130 million viewers via Arabsat’s constellation of four BADR satellites.

Discovery Communications Inc. will use Intelsat’s PAS-12 satellite to provide Discovery HD in Europe, Intelsat announced Nov. 16. "High-definition in Europe is fast-growing, and as the leader in HD programming, Discovery will continue to play a large role in the development and distribution of content and services utilizing this technology," John Honeycutt, Discovery Communications’ executive...

Protostar Ltd.,a Bermuda-based corporation with principal U.S. operations in San Francisco, worked closer to its Asian satellite service by successfully closing on $210 million in financing to purchase and launch its first satellite. Preceded by a $40 million series-B round completed earlier in the year for a total cumulative financing of $250 million, Protostar’s initial...

The Measat-3 communications satellite has been shipped to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan from Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems‘ satellite-manufacturing facility in El Segundo, California, Boeing reported Nov. 14. Measat-3 will be readied for a December launch aboard an International Launch Services Proton/Breeze M rocket. The Boeing 601 HP satellite was manufactured for Measat by...

The Americom-18 (AMC-18) satellite has been delivered to Kourou, French Guiana, in preparation for its Dec. 8 Ariane-5 ECA launch, SES Americom announced Nov. 15. AMC-18, an all C-band satellite, is designed to offer full North American cable-programming coverage to all 50 U.S. states, Caribbean and Mexico. It will be located at 105 degrees West...

The first HDTV broadcast from space, featuring crew members of the International Space Station’s Expedition 14, was received on Nov. 15 and carried by Discovery Channel‘s HD Theater and Japanese broadcast network NHK and shown at Discovery Channel stores, Discovery.com reported. While previous space missions flew with HD cameras, the 11:30 EST broadcast was the...

SES Astra and SES New Skies have inked a deal to broadcast France 24, a new French channel for international news, on an Astra satellite at 19.2 degrees East for Europe and on the NSS-7 satellite at 22 degrees West for Africa. The deal would allow more than 21 million European digital households to receive...