Focus: Broadcasting

The market for set-top boxes (STB) that combine Internet Protocol (IP) and direct broadcast service functionality is growing, and Michael Arden, an analyst with ABI Research believes satellite pay-TV operators will increasingly seek these hybrid strategies. "Among the satellite operators, it is kind of a pioneering effort to use a hybrid network and use an...

DirecTV and Echostar have nearly 30 million subscribers in the U.S. between them. While they continue to trail established cable competitors in total subscribers, the two satellite operators also must now focus on the growing competitive threat from telcos such as Verizon. To remain competitive in the pay-TV landscape, both operators are looking at improving...

Internet Pro-tocol (IP) TV and high-definition (HD) TV and their potential impact on the satellite industry and telecommunications world as a whole were among the hot topics at the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) in Amsterdam. Satellite News caught up with Intelsat CEO David McGlade, who shared his views on what effect these trends and others...

There have been some significant events throughout the past few months in the direct-to-home (DTH) market in Europe. A number of pay-TV operators have launched high-definition (HD) services as they look for new ways to gain competitive advantages over cable and other digital alternatives in the pay-TV market. In most major markets, customers now also...

By Peter Brown More than 800 emergency response and technical support personnel along with two dozen or so satellite-equipped vehicles descended on San Diego in late August for the Strong Angel 3 demonstration at the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department training facility. Strong Angel 3 communications director Brian Steckler, a faculty member at the Naval Postgraduate...

Systems By Greg Berlocher Since their inception, network management systems have made the metamorphic change from basic monitoring aids to feature-rich management tools. Built on powerful and robust computing platforms, today’s network management systems now can deliver a host of valuable services to corporations, carriers and governments, and the term management system no longer is...

By Peter J. Brown The movie industry is waking up to the fact that satellite-based distribution today represents a viable alternative to the old way of distributing films. When it comes to security, reliability, flexibility and cost effectiveness, satellite can do it all. The industry’s de facto d-cinema standard was published by Los Angeles-based Digital...

When a corporation has multiple projects underway simultaneously, and those projects are spread out around the globe, having an advanced network in place that can disseminate a wide range of applications is paramount. But corporate executives face a challenge when it comes to choosing the right network platform to deliver secure, always-on connectivity to the...

An increasing number of organizations are discovering that the only way to guarantee their communication systems stay online during times of crisis is to employ satellite backup systems to their terrestrial networks, which can be knocked out by any number of natural or manmade events. For IT/Network managers, such threats are all too real. Experiencing...

With the market for mobile TV "finally gaining momentum," IMS Research is predicting strong growth for the sector throughout the next several years. IMS forecasts that by the end of 2011, nearly 500 million people will be watching TV on cellular phones. Driven primarily by the adoption of broadcast-based services such as DVB-H, mobile digital...