Satellite News articles from March 2004

Satellite News archives from March 2004

SES Backing Boosts Orbcomm.
March 1, 2004... The fortunes of Dulles, Va.-based mobile data services provider Orbcomm rose last week when the company completed a $26 million equity financing that included the participation of the world's largest satellite operator, Luxembourg-based SES...

Panero Honored With SN Award.(Hugh Panero)(Satellite News)
March 1, 2004... Performance was the secret of success for Washington-based XM Satellite Radio [XMSR] CEO Hugh Panero and the other recipients of the inaugural Satellite News PR & Marketing Awards. Panero won the award for "Communicator of the Year," while...

ViaSat's Dankberg Personifies Entrepreneurial Engineer.(Mark Dankberg)
March 1, 2004... The choice of "Satellite Executive of the Year" always is open to secondguessing. A safe choice often is the CEO of a large satellite operator that has had a special year. The accomplishments of past winners have taken the form of...

Spotlight: Isle Of Man Offers Industry New Tax Haven.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The Isle of Man is preparing to add space and satellite businesses to those in the shipping, insurance and fund management industries that pay no taxes on the island. The newly announced zero corporate income tax creates a haven for space and...

The Satellite TV "Innovators" vs. The Followers.
March 1, 2004... Direct broadcast satellite (DBS) services are dominating the development of new applications, products and alliances. That situation is occurring despite major telecom operators delivering an array of services that include video/audio, voice,...

Digital+ Makes Steady Progress In Spain.
March 1, 2004... Sogecable, the owner of Digital+, is bullish about the prospect for paytelevision in Spain. Executives from Sogecable recently gave an upbeat presentation about the prospects for pay-TV in that country. Digital+, the new satellite pay-TV...

Satellite Pay-TV Operators Have Solid 2003.
March 1, 2004... Satellite pay-TV operators around the globe saw some healthy growth in subscriber numbers during 2003. In this survey, Satellite News analyzed the performance of some key operators in Europe and the Americas. In Europe, the signs look good for...

The Satellite News Financial Ticker.(Illustration)
March 1, 2004... Week of Feb. 20 - 26, 2004 Percentage Change Symbol Feb. 26 Price One Week APT SATELLITE HLDGS ATS 2.35 -7.5 ASIASAT TELECOM SAT 19.13 -9.8 BRITISH SKY...

Dankberg Seeks Cheap Bandwidth.(Mark Dankberg)
March 8, 2004... Mark Dankberg, the entrepreneurial engineer who founded and heads Carlsbad, Calif.-based ViaSat [VSAT], offered a bold challenge for the satellite industry to double or triple its available broadband bandwidth and trim its price to half or...

CEOs Optimistic About 2004 Outlook.
March 8, 2004... Industry CEOs voiced uncharacteristic bullishness about their companies' prospects for the coming year earlier this week during a panel discussion at the Satellite 2004 conference's one-day financial forum at the Washington (D.C.) Convention...

Industry Leaders Are Right To Clash Over Strategies.
March 8, 2004... The world of fixed satellite services (FSS) is evolving into one of scrappy survivors whose leaders are assessing the same marketplace but are drawing different conclusions about the best actions to take. To me, the debate is most healthy and...

Spotlight: Anti-Jamming Technology Highlighted.(Brief Article)
March 8, 2004... New anti-jamming capabilities were introduced last week at Satellite 2004 by QinetiQ, a Farnborough, U.K.-based science and technology company with 10,000 employees. The company's advanced system, called satID, identifies and locates the...

Insurance Rates Change Industry Dynamics.
March 8, 2004... By Kirby Ikin Insurance is not a subject many would consider a driver in the space industry. In fact, few within the space industry give insurance the consideration that it deserves, let alone attempt to understand the subtle --and...

The Sky Is The Limit For Gilat.(Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd.)(Interview)
March 8, 2004... Gilat Satellite Networks [GILTF] is looking for a successful 2004. The company has had its trials and tribulations in recent years but armed with a new business strategy, the company is optimistic it can rebound from the financial troubles it...

Rosetta Probe Successfully Launched.(Satellite)(Arianespace)(Brief Article)
March 8, 2004... After one or two delays, Arianespace successfully launched the European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosetta probe March 2. Rosetta is scheduled to reach the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014 after three flybys of Earth and one of Mars. It is...

Satellite 2004 Features Updates On Demand.
March 8, 2004... The performance of fixed satellite operators is hamstrung by a lingering overcapacity problem that generally will exceed demand for years to come. That is the view of two industry consultants who addressed the fixed satellite services...

EchoStar Makes Example Of Viacom.
March 15, 2004... EchoStar Communications [DISH] showed last week it is willing to risk the loss of subscribers to protect its low-cost advantage against other multichannel video providers. By refusing to accept what its Chairman and CEO Charlie Ergen...

Inmarsat Pursues CEO Shuffle.
March 15, 2004... London-based Inmarsat, the world's largest mobile satellite communications provider and in the midst of a transition following its sale last December, now will include a new chief executive officer. Michael Storey resigned as the company's...

EchoStar Should Address SEC Issues Fully, Swiftly.
March 15, 2004... It was difficult for me not to wonder a couple of years ago whether Englewood, Colo.-based EchoStar Communications [DISH] might fall victim to some of the accounting pitfalls that plagued other public companies that used Arthur Andersen LLP as...

Spotlight: New Multi-Beam Antenna Offers Big Benefit.(Brief Article)
March 15, 2004... A multi-beam antenna design that simultaneously communicates with as many as 20 satellites - compared with one antenna for one satellite in conventional systems -- was awarded the 2004 "Industry Innovators Award" by the Society of Satellite...

The ITAR Handicap: Bureaucracy Strikes Again.
March 15, 2004... By Roger Rusch The transfer of technology is a legitimate concern of every advanced country. This situation is especially true if the developments have been funded through public resources. Intellectual achievements are an essential...

Luxsat Expects Major Growth From Satellite Operators.
March 15, 2004... Luxsat hopes to revolutionize Video-on-Demand (VOD) markets across Europe. The company, based in Luxembourg, aims to help satellite, cable and terrestrial players to bring a rich VOD service to consumers. Its patented IP-DVB (Internet Protocol...

SatLynx Suffers A Further Blow With New Departure.(Brief Article)
March 15, 2004... SatLynx, a two-way, European, satellite broadband joint venture, lost its second key executive in less than a year. In this latest departure, Robert Feierbach left to become the executive director of Eutelsat's IP services affiliate, Skylogic...

New Name Puts Focus On DirecTV.
March 22, 2004... Last week's name change of Hughes Electronics to The DirecTV Group [DTV] is a clear signal that the future of the diversified El Segundo, Calif.-based company is on satellite television. The renaming of the parent company follows wholesale...

New SBCA Leader Faces Challenges.(Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association)
March 22, 2004... Richard DalBello's appointment as the next president of the Alexandria, Va.-based Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association (SBCA) seems to be a popular choice among those who understand the challenges of the job but he will not be...

Intelsat Moves Forward With IPO, Loral Assets.
March 22, 2004... Intelsat Ltd. aggressively is trying to become a long-term industry survivor by filing with the Securities and Exch-ange Commission (SEC) to proceed with its planned initial public stock offering (IPO) and by completing its purchase of the...

Spotlight: New Hybrid Service Nears Maiden Voyage.(wireless phones at sea)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2004... In a first for the U.S. wireless industry, AT&T Wireless [AWE] and Maritime Telecommunications Network (MTN) plan to give cruise-ship passengers the convenience of using their wireless phones while at sea. The companies are working with several...

Consumers Compare Digital Cable, Satellite.
March 22, 2004... By Howard Horowitz, Horowitz Associates When we think of the competitive market for multichannel services in the United States, we usually think in terms of satellite versus cable. Indeed, cable typically is viewed as the incumbent provider...

Pace CEO Expects Good Year In Satellite.
March 22, 2004... Pace Micro Technology [PACE.L] is on an upward curve. The company, which is one of the leading suppliers of digital STBs to satellite, cable and terrestrial operators around the world, announced in its most recent results that it had returned...

Eutelsat Shows Double-Digit Revenue Increase.
March 22, 2004... Eutelsat's half-year results ended Dec. 31 last year showed a doubledigit percentage increase in revenues, compared with the same six months of 2002. During the first six months of the 2003/04 financial year, Eutelsat increased its revenues to...

The Satellite News Financial Ticker.
March 22, 2004... Week of 3/12/04 - 3/18/04 Percentage Symbol March 18 Price One Week APT SATELLITE HLDGS ATS 2.1 - ASIASAT TELECOM SAT 17.5 -9.3...

SES Global Prepares For Rebound.
March 29, 2004... Luxembourg-based SES Global, the world's largest satellite operating company, appears to be bottoming out and heading for a financial upswing starting next year. That is the view of key satellite analysts who track the company closely and...

Iridium, Globalstar Eye Innovation.
March 29, 2004... The original investors of low-Earth-orbit satellite services Iridium and Globalstar who lost nearly all their money could not be blamed for regretting that either multi-billion dollar venture was built. Now that Globalstar is on the verge of...

DirecTV, EchoStar Get Help In Battling Programmers.
March 29, 2004... The high-stakes battles that pit price-gouging television programmers against increasingly resistant satellite and cable TV service providers are becoming more frequent than ever, and Congress is taking notice. Consumers are complaining to...

Spotlight: HNS Taps Into Wi-Fi Growth Trend.(Hughes Network Systems Inc.)
March 29, 2004... Germantown, Md.-based Hughes Network Systems (HNS), a provider of satellite broadband services through its DirecWay brand, has introduced a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) access service aimed at such consumer-oriented businesses as restaurants,...

IPO Would Unshackle Intelsat From ORBIT Act.
March 29, 2004... By Maury Mechanick, White & Case LLP For awhile, it was beginning to appear as though the former intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) in the satellite industry never were going to go public, despite a clear mandate to do so from the U.S....

Nebozzo Gains Eutelsat Stake.(Brief Article)
March 29, 2004... Nebozzo, a 50/50 joint venture between U.S. investment companies TPG and Spectrum has in the last few days has taken a 9-percent+ stake in Eutelsat. This includes the stake previously owned by Dutch PTT KPN, which was around 3.5 percent. ...

Globecast CEO Confident Of Asian Prospects.(Christian Pinon)(Interview)
March 29, 2004... Globecast is aiming to boost its revenues from Asia, the goal being to eventually grow its Asian segment to 20 percent of the company's total. Indeed, an intensified focus on the region is one of the company's main objectives for 2004. ...