Satellite News articles from April 2005

Satellite News archives from April 2005

Russian Express-AM2 Successfully Launched.(reports of Russian Satellite Communications Co.)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... The Russian Satellite Communi-cations Co. said the Russian Express-AM2 was successfully launched March 29 on a Proton-K rocket from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 10:31 p.m. GMT. In-orbit testing of the spacecraft is expected to...

Dolan Challenges Sale Of Rainbow DBS Assets To EchoStar.
April 4, 2005... As Satellite News went to press, no announcement had been made regarding the fate of Rainbow DBS, the business unit of Cablevision that offers direct-to- home (DTH) satellite television services under the Voom brand name. A deadline of March...

Satellite Manufacturers Put On Their Best Game Faces.
April 4, 2005... It was a grim-faced panel of satellite manufacturing executives that faced delegates during the "Satellite Manufacturing: Building Confidence with 'Basics" session during the SATELLITE 2005 conference and exhibition. "I have heard talk...

Spotlight: Satellite Imagery Increases Efficiency At Energy Company.
April 4, 2005... The Southern Co., an electricity producer for the Southeastern United States, has used satellite imagery gathered throughout the course of a recently completed three-year project to help increase the efficiency of its operations and to help...

Government Use Of Commercial Satellites Will Remain For Foreseeable Future.
April 4, 2005... Commercial satellite operators who have looked upon the U.S. government as a consistent customer can rest easy in the knowledge that the increased demand of commercial capacity by the government will remain in the near term. That demand...

Kenyon: When It Comes to VSATs And Open Standards, HNS Is "Not The Enemy!".
April 4, 2005... "We are not the enemy! The terrestrial solutions out there are eating all our lunches!" With these combative words, Hughes Network Systems Senior Vice President of Engineering John Kenyon set the tone for "The Path to DVB-RCS Growth: Are We...

Meeting The Challenges In A Small Market.(Interview)
April 4, 2005... At first glance, Sky Network Television Ltd. looks good sitting in its position as the largest pay-TV operator in New Zealand. However, when you look closely at the company, you get an interesting perspective on what it means to hold that...

Satellite Executive Of The Year Issues Rallying Cry to Industry.
April 4, 2005... For the satellite industry to survive and thrive, it must lower transmission costs. This was the unequivocal message delivered by Via Satellite magazine's Satellite Executive of the Year 2004 winner John Kealey. He made his remarks at a...

At Press Time Credits Roll On Voom Drama.(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... The Voom saga reached its conclusion as this issue was going to press when Cablevision formally said it would shut down its struggling Rainbow DBS direct-to-home satellite television service, which does business under the Voom brand name....

AsiaSat Sees Flat Revenues In 2005, Potential Growth In 2006.
April 11, 2005... In the Asian region marred with pricing pressures and oversupply of capacity, maintaining stable revenues can be a challenge. But Asi aSat has done that and, with the help of some creative business ventures, stands poised to turn the corner...

AsiaSat, SES Astra Seeking New Satellites.(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... AsiaSat and SES Astra will be entering the market looking for new satellites. AsiaSat is preparing a request for proposal (RFP) for a new satellite, AsiaSat 5, which will act as a replacement for AsiaSat 2. The operator expects to go out...

Cell Phone Use On Airlines Moves One Step Closer To Reality.
April 11, 2005... A system that would allow airline passengers to use GSM wireless phones moved a step closer to reality last week when Arinc and Telenor, two companies partnered to deploy such technology, unveiled the name for its in-flight cell phone...

Spotlight: Iridium Provides Service on 32,000 Mile Road Trip To Raise Awareness For Parkinson's.
April 11, 2005... Iridium Satellite LLC recently provided global satellite communications equipment and services for a benefit drive around the world to help keep the nine volunteers that took part in the effort to raise money for Parkinson's Disease...

DTH Could Be In Need Of A Triple Play Partner.(Direct to Home)
April 11, 2005... While the direct-to-home (DTH) satellite television service providers currently are benefiting between the telecom service providers and cable television operators, they may need to seek out their own partners or alter their focus to remain...

Satellite News Names Winners Of Golden Orbiter Awards.
April 11, 2005... Satellite News named the winners of its 2004 Golden Orbiter Marketing and PR Awards. Golden Orbiters are given out in four categories honoring the best marketing public relations efforts within the satellite industry for the past calendar...

Orbiting Wall Street.
April 11, 2005... This week, Satellite News is launching a new regular feature that looks at the performance of certain stocks in the satellite industry. The focus for the coming weeks will be on Panamsat Holdings Corp. The stock is important because it holds...

SES Americom Names Edward Horowitz New President And CEO.(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... SES Americom announced that its board of directors appointed Edward Horowitz to be the president and CEO of the company. He also will serve on the executive committee of SES Global. His appointment is effective as of May 2. "We are...

Freeview Continues To Erode Satellite Market Share.(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... According to the latest figures released by the U.K. telecoms regulator Ofcom, digital satellite had just more than a 50 percent share of the digital television market at the end of 2004. While BSkyB continues to perform strongly and sets...

Xtar-Eur Enters Full Commercial Service.(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... Xtar LLC announced that Xtar-Eur, the world's first satellite developed for commercial X-band service, completed its in-orbit testing and is fully operational. Xtar-Eur, located at 29 degrees East, was built by Space Systems/Loral and was...

Boeing Announces Team Competing For GOES-R Satellite Contract.(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... Boeing said it assembled a team consisting of, Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. and Harris Corp., to bid on the next generation geostationary weather and environmental system for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration...

Perseus Acquires MTN.(Maritime Telecommunications Network Inc.)(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... Maritime Telecommunications Network (MTN) said merchant bank and private equity fund management company Perseus LLC completed its acquisition of MTN. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. "[Throughout] the past two years, we...

BSkyB Makes Key Upgrades For Parents.(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... The U.K. satellite pay-TV operator BSkyB (Sky) is significantly enhancing the parental controls to its services. The new upgrades will enable parents to restrict access to all channels, or even to remove all adult channels listings from...

Frontier, EchoStar Form Strategic Alliance.(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... Frontier Communications and EchoStar Communications Corp. formed a strategic alliance to provide EchoStar's Dish Network direct-to-home satellite televisions service to Frontier customers nationwide. Frontier will offer the service as part of...

Finisar Files Patent Suit Against DirecTV.(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... Finisar Corp. said it filed a patent infringement lawsuit against The DirecTV Group Inc. and related entities in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The suit alleges DirecTV has engaged and continues to engage in...

Panamsat, Pegaso To Launch Satellite Internet Service In Mexico.(Pegaso Banda Ancha)(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... Panamsat Corp. said Group W-Com, a Group Pegaso company, selected the company to support a new satellite-based broadband Internet service. Pegaso Banda Ancha will provide direct-to-home service providers, local telcos and cable television...

FTMSC Targets Asia Pacific Opportunities.(France Telecom Mobile Satellite Communications)(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... France Telecom Mobile Satellite Communications (FTMSC) has stepped up its pursuit of more revenues in the Asia Pacific region by opening a sales office in Hong Kong, which will serve as a base for the marketing and distribution of mobile...

Maxwell Hopes NPOESS Contract Will Open Door To Commercial Market.(National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System)
April 11, 2005... Last week, Maxwell Technologies Inc. announced that Northrop Grumman Space Technology selected its SCS750 single board computer for spacecraft control and payload data management for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental...

Work Continues On Voom Satellites.(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... Although the decision to shut down Cablevision's Rainbow DBS operations, which did business under the Voom brand name, was made public earlier this month, work on a $740 million contract for five satellites continues from the spacecrafts'...

Merger Talk Dominates Hearing on ORBIT Act.
April 18, 2005... A Congressional hearing about the progress being made toward meeting the goals of the Open-Market Reorganization for the Betterment of International Telecommunications (ORBIT) Act quickly focused on a couple of hypothetical merger scenarios...

TerreStar Banking On ATC To Erase MSS' Tarnished Legacy.(ancillary terrestrial component; Mobile Satellite Services)
April 18, 2005... While companies like Iridium Satellite LLC and Globalstar LLC have been able to recover after a shaky first stab at the market, the mention of those names and Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) in general likely will generate memories of the...

Spotlight: Helping Soldiers Spurs Technology Evolution.(satellite videphone connection a success)
April 18, 2005... In a previous Spotlight, we highlighted the use of satellite telephones to help keep soldiers in Iraq in touch with their families. WorldGate Communications Inc. is looking to take that concept one step further and is working on deploying a...

On a WING and a Prayer.(GlobeCast introduces new service)(Interview)
April 18, 2005... GlobeCast no longer sees itself purely as a satellite services provider. That is the key message as the operator gets ready to launch a new offering, which it believes will help transform its business. GlobeCast is launching WING Content...

Orbiting Wall Street.(Panamsat enters agreement with China Radio International and Group W-Com)
April 18, 2005... With Panamsat formally coming out of its quiet period, it is no surprise to see the company's public relations machine starting back up. In the past two weeks, two announcements from the company have hit the wires. And while neither...

Arianespace, Roscosmos Sign Infrastructure Contract.(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... Arianespace CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall and Anatoli Perminov, director general of the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos, signed a partnership contract regarding the production and supply of Russian equipment and systems for the construction of...

Apstar 6 Satellite Successfully Launched.
April 18, 2005... Alcatel Space said the Apstar 6 communications satellite was successfully launched April 12 on a Long March 3B vehicle from the Xichang satellite launch center in China. Alcatel built the spacecraft for APT Satellite Holdings Ltd. Apstar 6,...

Iridium Reports Subscriber, Revenue Growth For First Quarter Of 2005.(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... Iridium Satellite LLC said its total number of subscribers grew 19 percent and revenues grew 26 percent during the first quarter of 2005, compared to the totals reported during the first quarter of 2004. Even so, the company did not reveal...

AOL, XM Partner To Create New Online Radio Service.(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... America Online and XM Satellite Radio said they are joining forces to create a new online radio service. According to the companies, the new service brings together the best of XM and the AOL Radio Network. The new co-branded service will...

Convergent Taps Intelsat For Business TV Requirements.(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... Intelsat selected Convergent Media Systems as a provider of worldwide distribution services for its business TV offering. Intelsat's global fiber and satellite network will be used to transmit live and on-demand video communications services...

Motorola, WorldGate Claim First Videophone Call Over Satellite.(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... Motorola Inc. and WorldGate Communications Inc. claim they have conducted the first true-to-life videophone call over satellite broadband connections using the Motorola Ojo personal videophone. The phone call originated from WorldGate's...

Dish Targets New York Mets Fans In New Promotion.(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... EchoStar Communications Corp. announced a special offer to New York Mets fans in the New York tri-state area and parts of Pennsylvania who otherwise are not able to watch the team on local cable. Eligible customers in New York, New Jersey,...

SES Astra Increases Ownership Stake In Satlynx, ND Satcom.(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... SES Astra said the SES Group increased its shareholding in Satlynx from 41 percent to 77 percent, resulting in SES Astra taking full operational control of the company. As a result of the equity realignment, Alcatel Space and Gilat now hold...

Hispasat Uses Integrasys Solution To Deploy Broadband Satellite Services.(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... Hispasat said it certified Integrasys' SatmotionPocket to be fully compliant to its radio and IP broadband hub systems requirements, adding that the Integrasys tool has been integrated to Hispasat hub stations to perform the line-up and...

Space Tug Passes Baseline Design Review Milestone.(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... Orbital Recovery Ltd. said its ConeXpress Orbital Life Extension Vehicle (CX-OLEV) successfully passed its baseline design review milestone, clearing the way for space tug to be formally offered to customers on operational servicing missions...

Forrester: Satellite Radio Poised For Significant Growth By 2010.(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... According to a new report issued by Forrester Research Inc., inhabitants of 20.1 million households will listen to satellite radio by the end of the decade. In its report, "The Future of Digital Audio," the company notes that satellite radio...

Timing Crucial In Collecting Satellite Debits.
April 18, 2005... "Timing is crucial," particularly when a satellite company makes its decision on when to explore options on collecting on debt related to leased capacity on satellites or on manufacturing, according to Frederick Sampliner, president of S.S....

Arrowhead Names Dean Olmstead President.(Brief Article)
April 25, 2005... Arrowhead Global Solutions said that former SES Americom President and CEO Dean Olmstead will succeed Mary Ann Elliot as the company's president. Elliot will continue on as Arrowhead chairman. "The quality and depth of Dean Olmstead's...

HDTV, IPTV Take Center Stage At NAB 2005.(high definition TV, Internet Protocol TV)(National Association of Broadcasters annual trade show)
April 25, 2005... LAS VEGAS--A quick tour of the exhibit halls at this year's National Association of Broadcasters annual trade show held last week, revealed that high-definition TV (HDTV) and IPTV (television over Internet Protocol connections) are the buzz...

Russian DTH Market Poised For Dramatic Growth.(digital-to-home)(NTV-Plus, Moscow)
April 25, 2005... Russia is one of the largest potential markets for pay-TV worldwide. It has a population in excess of 140 million people and with still very low digital television penetration; the market could see dramatic growth in the next few years,...

Spotlight: Keeping California Emergency Services Connected.
April 25, 2005... For Southern California, which has been plagued in recently years with wildfires, earthquakes, flooding and other disasters, having a satellite-based emergency response system is crucial for keeping its emergency services agencies connected...

Panamsat CEO Joseph Wright Confident About Company's Future.(Interview)
April 25, 2005... LAS VEGAS--With the company's initial public offering (IPO) on the market for about a month and its quiet period officially over, Panamsat Corp. CEO Joseph Wright sat down with Satellite News Editor Gregory Twachtman last week at the...

Orbiting Wall Street.(Orbital Sciences Corp. signed a contract with Panamsat to provide it with a new satellite)
April 25, 2005... With much of the talk on Panamsat's IPO last month focused on the dividends that were paid out from the proceeds and from a dividend declaration that took place only seven business days after the stock went public, questions have lingered as...

Telenor Named Premier BGAN Provider.(Broadband Global Area Network)(Brief Article)
April 25, 2005... Telenor Satellite Services said it was selected as a premier service provider of Inmarsat's forthcoming Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) satellite broadband service. The service, which is expected to launch later this year, will offer...

Stratos, HNS Ink BGAN Terminal Distribution Agreement.(Hughes Network Systems)(Broadband Global Area Network)(Brief Article)
April 25, 2005... Stratos Global Corp. said it signed an agreement with Hughes Network Systems to be the first distributor of the HNS 9201 broadband satellite IP modem and Wi-Fi access point for use with Inmarsat's forthcoming Broadband Global Area Network...

FCC Says Intelsat In Compliance With ORBIT Act.(Federal Communications Commission)(Brief Article)
April 25, 2005... Intelsat said the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) found the company to be in compliance with the privatization requirements of the ORBIT Act. The FCC found that Intelsat has substantially diluted the ownership of its former...

Globalstar Applies For Florida Gateway Operational Authority.(Brief Article)
April 25, 2005... Globalstar LLC said it filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission for authority to operate a gateway in Sebring, FL. The gateway, expected to open later this summer, will allow Globalstar to improve service at the fringes...

Kazakhstan, Russia Developing New Satellite Launching System.(Brief Article)
April 25, 2005... Kazakhstan and Russia have agreed to develop a new civil satellite launching system using the Mig-31 fighter and the Ishim missile as the platform from which to launch payloads up to 200 kg into low earth orbit. The Mig-31 would launch the...

Helius, iDirect Form Strategic Technology Partnership.(Brief Article)
April 25, 2005... iDirect Technologies and Helius Inc. formed a strategic technology relationship to provide what was described as "an evolutionary platform for the distribution of data, rich media and business information." The joint solution will provide...

Mobile Satellite Ventures Taps Evercore For Financial Advisory Services.(Brief Article)
April 25, 2005... Mobile Satellite Ventures said it selected Evercore Partners to provide financial, fundraising and strategic advisory services to the company to ensure there is the financial and partner support necessary for the timely roll-out of its...

Sky Executive Examines Content Changes.
April 25, 2005... It has been a busy few days for U.K. satellite pay-TV operator BSkyB. Firstly, its managing director of Sky Networks, Dawn Airey gave a keynote speech at Reed Midem's MIPTV conference in Cannes, France earlier this month where she gave some...