People

DirecTV Board Goes To 11 With Saban Election

The DirecTV Group elected Haim Saban, chairman and CEO of Saban Capital Group Inc., to its board of directors. The appointment is effective immediately and boosts DirecTV’s board to 11 members.

In addition to his position at Saban Capital, Saban currently serves as chairman of the supervisory board of the German broadcaster ProSiebenSat 1 Media AG and is a member of the board of directors of French broadcaster T�l�vision Francaise 1.

Force Names Victor Gonzalez CEO

Force, Inc. announced that Victor Gonzalez has been named CEO, replacing Will Cutchins, who retired in December 2004.

Gonzalez’s expertise spans many areas, including sales leadership, strategic planning, product development, wireless design, network planning, systems design, marketing management, engineering and finance.

Prior to joining Force, Gonzalez served as vice president at ADC Broadband. During his time there, Gonzalez led the transformation of the entire sales and marketing organization from $14M to $98M in a little more than two years.

Orbimage Names COO

Orbimage Inc. named William "Bill" Schuster the company’s new chief operation officer. He most recently served as the president of Integrated Systems with BAE Systems, where he developed processes and procedures, and established a systems integration business.

Schuster also spent nearly 22 years at the Central Intelligence Agency and has served as vice president at Harris Corp. and Loral Space and Range Systems.

SIA Names New Director Of Government Affairs

The Satellite Industry Association (SIA) named Michael Beavin its new director of government affairs. In this role, Beavin will be overseeing all satellite-focused legislative and policy issues facing the U.S. Congress and the Administration for SIA.

He previously served as director of government relations and public policy for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Beavin also has served on the majority staff of the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics for the House Committee on Science.

Services

BskyB Extends Sky Text

BSkyB, the U.K. satellite pay-TV operator, recently made its Sky Text service available on the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) service, Freeview, for the first time in the U.K. It will give BSkyB a potential audience of 3.7 million households for the service.

The text services will be available on the Sky channels on the DTT platform, Sky News, Sky Sports News and Sky Travel. Sky Text originally launched its digital text services for satellite pay-TV subscribers in December 2000.

Echostar Adds South Asia World To International Programming

Echostar Communications Corp. said its Dish Network direct-to-home satellite television service added South Asia World to its international programming line-up. This is a 24- hour news and information/entertainment channel dedicated to Asians living in the United States.

In a separate announcement, Echostar said it is now offering the local affiliates of ABC, CBS and NBC to Dish Network subscribers in Meridian, MS. Executives at Dish said that this addition now offers local channel service to 152 markets covering 93 percent of U.S. television households.

GlobeCast Announces New Multicultural Channel Launch

Globecast is bringing a new multicultural channel to audiences in Australia and New Zealand targeting the local ethnic communities. It is launching Australian Multicultural Television Network (AMTV), Australia’s first full-time DTH channel dedicated to these communities. The channel began broadcasting in early December on the Optus B3 platform.

The channel will consist of daily segments of programming focused on each of Australia’s main ethnic groups. The content will be locally produced. Community level programs and events filmed directly by AMTV in the local area will also be featured. There will also be live community forums discussing various issues, which aim to showcase cultural diversity in Australia.

PSSI Offers New Data Services

PSSI and Spaceconnection announced the formation of skIP Broadband LLC, a communications solutions company that specializes in providing dedicated phone lines, Internet connectivity and high speed data and video streaming.

The new enterprise arranges instant telephony and data transfer services, using a transportable uplink or skIP flyway package from anywhere in the United States via satellite. skIP Broadband combines the technical resources of PSSI and the satellite experience of Spaceconnection to bring comprehensive digital communications systems to broadcasters, corporate and governmental agencies. Its control center is located at PSSI’s Las Vegas, NV teleport

Contracts

COMTECH Receives Multi-year Satellite Equipment Contract

Comtech Communications Corp. announced its Comtech EF Data subsidiary received a multi-year contract for satellite communications equipment to be deployed in security and defense networks throughout Europe. Comtech said the initial order against this contract is for $1.6 million and if follow-on orders are executed, the total value of the contract could reach up to $4 million through 2007. The customer was not explicitly named.

The contract provides for the purchase of high-performance satellite modems with an extended range of high-order modulation, coding and advanced forward error correction techniques, including Turbo Coding, which enhances coding gain and bandwidth efficiency and reduces overall transponder costs. The award includes both military and commercial bandwidth efficient satellite modems.

EUTELSAT Signs Chinese Deal

Eutelsat’s broadband affiliate, Skylogic, has signed a deal with Chinese telco, Chinasatcom, to improve communications between China and Italy. The deal will see Chinasatcom and Skylogic create a two-way broadband network to connect businesses, trade and government agencies between China and Italy. More than one thousand Italian businesses with offices, joint ventures and production units in China, as well as Chinese companies operating in Europe, will benefit from this new satellite partnership.

Zhang Hainan, president of Chinasatcom, and Giuliano Berretta, chairman and managing director of Eutelsat Italia signed the contract in Beijing, in the presence of Antonio Marzano, Italian Minister for trade and industry, and Jiang Yao Ping, Deputy Minister of information and industry.

The agreement will be implemented immediately once the deal has gained approval from the Chinese and Italian authorities. Chinasatcom is one of six basic telecoms operators in China.

ESA Signs Second Contract Of Galileo’s In-Orbit Validation Phase

The European Space Agency (ESA) said it has signed a second contract concerning the In-Orbit Validation phase of the Galileo satellite navigation system with Galileo Industries. The value of the contract is 150 million euros ($200.6 million).

The contract provides the basis and the technical activities necessary for in-orbit validation of the Galileo system. It gives preliminary authorization to proceed with the whole of this work throughout a six-month period. This work notably concerns the management of the program and the choice of engineering systems and technical support required to maintain the overall credibility of the scheduling and ensure system coherence.

G2 Satellite Solutions and MCI Ink Two -Year Deal

G2 Satellite Solutions, an independent wholly owned subsidiary of Panamsat Corp., said that MCI has renewed a multi-million dollar, two-year deal for satellite services. Under the terms of the deal, G2 will provide two Ku-band transponders on Galaxy 11, with redundancy provisions on SBS-6.

G2 said MCI is using the satellite solutions on the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration Telecommunications Satellite (FAASAT) system, which provides the voice and data communications for air traffic flow. MCI is the prime contractor on the FAASAT system. In addition to the two transponders, the deal also covers 21 regional terminals, with each communicating to multiple remote sites. The specific financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Globecomm Receives Follow-on Contract

Globecomm Systems Inc. said it won a contract from an existing customer for roughly $1.3 million. The contract was a follow-on to a previously announced $8.3 million contract for fixed and transportable earth station terminals. That initial contract included provisions for up to $26.7 million in follow-on options. The customer has previously exercised $11.7 million in follow-on options. The customer was identified only as a "global multilateral organization."

Viasat Contracts With The Space And Naval Warfare Systems Command

ViaSat Inc. won an Engineering Change Proposal modification and corresponding delivery order valued at approximately $60 million for the development of a Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) complaint version of the Multifunctional Information Distribution System terminal. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command awarded ViaSat the contract. JTRS is a programmable radio technology that contributes to the new network centric vision of the military by enabling a variety of military wireless communications devices to communicate with each other.

Technology

Maxwell Introduces Space-Qualified Digital-To-Analog Converter

Maxwell Technologies Inc. introduced a high-speed, high-performance digital-to-analog converter (DAC) that the company says combines the latest commercial technology with proprietary radiation mitigation technology to meet the high reliability digital data transmission requirements of the space and satellite market. Maxwell’s 5675RP DAC is the first in a series of products the company is introducing to expand its line of data acquisition products to support high speed data communications.

(Maxwell Technologies Inc. 9244 Balboa Avenue, San Diego, CA 92123; Tel: 858/503-3300; Fax: 858/503-3301; Web: http://www.maxwell.com)

Thales Announces Technical Achievement In DRM Broadcasting

Thales announced that a new world record has been reached for Digital AM Broadcasting in Macedonia. PE Makedonska Radiodifuzija (MRD), a national public broadcasting operator, in collaboration with Thales and Deutsche Welle (DW), succeeded in transmitting 720 kW mean power in Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) mode from the medium-wave station Ovce Pole, the highest DRM power ever broadcast by a single transmitter, reaching coverage and quality of reception.

Transmissions were done on 810 kHz with the Thales’ S7HP 1200 kW solid-state medium-wave analog transmitter, in operation at Ovce Pole since its inauguration in June 2002. For the tests, Thales provided front-end equipment from its Skywave 2000 DRM Digital Product Line.

(Thales Broadcast and Multimedia, 104 Feeding Hills Rd., Southwick, MA 01077; Tel: 413/998-1100; Web: http://www.thales-bm.com)