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Wegener Corp.’s board of directors has formed a committee of independent directors to consider strategic and financial alternatives to boost shareholder value, the company announced March 13. The company has retained Near Earth LLC to evaluate alternatives including technology licensing agreements; product development and marketing arrangements, joint ventures or strategic partnerships; strategic acquisitions, mergers or...

Premiere Sky, a new subsidiary of German pay-TV operator Premiere, will launch an eponymous programming package in September, the company announced March 14 in Munich. Sold as an inexpensive package, the Premiere Sky programming bundle will offer “current and new pay-TV channels that have not yet found a capable satellite marketing partner.” Erstwhile NBC Universal...

The Jan. 30 catastrophic failure of Sea Launch’s Zenit-3SL booster carrying the NSS-8 commercial communications satellite was caused by an engine failure, according to a commission of independent Ukrainian and Russian investigators.   "The intergovernmental commission … has completed its work. It has established that the engine failed after a metal particle accidentally went into...

SES Astra, a subsidiary of SES, will launch its Astra-1L satellite onboard an Ariane 5 rocket, SES Astra announced March 14. The satellite, an A2100 AXS model built by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems, will join the Astra satellites currently co-positioned at 19.2° East to operate as a replacement satellite for existing capacity, and to...

For news and updates from Satcom Africa 2007, read Satellite Today’s blog about all the latest happenings in Johannesburg.

Kishore Shirekar has been named general manager for NDS India as conditional access and middleware vendor NDS aims for improved performance amid a potentially lucrative DTH market in India. Based in NDS’s Mumbai office, Shirekar will be responsible for commercial operations and customer support at NDS India, including developing business for NDS end-to-end, pay-TV solutions...

Hughes Network Systems is offering enterprise users nationwide broadband coverage with a choice of DSL and/or satellite technologies, the company announced March 13. Hughes has signed wholesale agreements with New Edge, Covad, AT&T, Verizon, and Bell South to provide service anywhere DSL is available in the United States; Hughes has a similar agreement with Radiant...

Arianespace placed two satellites into geostationary transfer orbit on March 11 after its dual launch of military communications satellite Skynet-5A for the British Ministry of Defense, and the civil communications satellite Insat-4B for the Indian Space Research Organization. The mission marked the 31st Ariane 5 launch, and 17th consecutive success.

Shin Satellite’s subsidiary, Ipstar New Zealand, has signed a deal with BayCity Communications to become the exclusive national service operator (NSO) for Ipstar services throughout New Zealand. BayCity will be responsible for the wholesale supply of all Ipstar products and services, including broadband Internet access, bandwidth, user terminals and other value-added services including voice over...

DigitalGlobe, a provider of high-resolution commercial satellite imagery and geospatial information, has opened a commercial business unit in Boston, the company announced March 12. The new office occasions the integration of assets from DigitalGlobe’s acquisition of GlobeXplorer and provides easier access to the company’s digital imagery products for non-government technology sectors, including real estate, Internet...