Satellite News articles from October 2003

Satellite News archives from October 2003

Rainbow DBS Chases HDTV Trend.
October 6, 2003... Jericho, N.Y.-based Rainbow DBS, the direct broadcast satellite (DBS) venture of Bethpage, New York-based Cablevision Systems [NYSE: CVC], revealed last week that its fledgling service envisions high-definition television (HDTV) and other...

Boeing Braces For Weak Rebound.
October 6, 2003... Boeing [NYSE: BA], the world's largest satellite manufacturer, is bracing for a weak recovery from the current drought in new satellite orders. The lackluster outlook was offered by Jim Albaugh, president of Boeing Integrated Defense...

NIMA Seeks Funding For 2nd NextView Contract.(National Imagery and Mapping Agency)
October 6, 2003... DigitalGlobe, of Longmont, Colo., ultimately may not be the only winner of a $500 million, five-year contract to meet the imagery needs of the U.S. defense and intelligence agencies under the NextView contract awarded by the National Imagery...

Spotlight: ViaSat Plays Role In All African Games.(Brief Article)
October 6, 2003... ViaSat [Nasdaq: VSAT] is the latest satellite company to tap business opportunities in Africa. And the company has found a way to combine sports with work by winning a $4.65 million contract to supply its LINKWAY multi-protocol broadband VSATs...

Optimism Rises For DTH In Latin America.(direct-to-home )
October 6, 2003... By Stephen A. Blum Cautious optimism has returned to the Latin American direct-to-home (DTH) sector. A year ago, the outlook for the two regional satellite television platforms was cloudy. Political and economic volatility, in combination...

Nordic Satellite Close To SIRIUS 4 Decision.
October 6, 2003... Nordic Satellite CEO Lennart Hallkvist expects the operator to decide in the next couple of months when it will order its new SIRIUS 4 satellite. "SIRIUS 4 is still high on the agenda for us. We need to continue, in the coming year, to...

BSkyB Prepares For Life After Ball's Departure.
October 6, 2003... It has been a mixed few days for UK satellite pay-TV operator BSkyB. Firstly, Tony Ball announced he would not be staying on as CEO when his contract expires in May of next year. He has promised to stay at his post if a new CEO is not found by...

Satellite's Future Is Not All 'Doom and Gloom'.(Industry Overview)
October 6, 2003... By D.K.Sachdev Weak demand for new satellite orders recently forecast by Jim Albaugh, president of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, must be taken seriously. But it does not suggest that the industry is in for a train wreck. Unlike his...

The Satellite News Financial Ticker.(Industry Overview)
October 6, 2003... Week of Sept. 26 - Oct. 2, 2003 Percentage Change Oct. 2 One One Symbol Price Week Month APT SATELLITE HLDGS ...

NIMA's Award Fuels Contractors.
October 13, 2003... Aerospace companies that had the foresight to partner with Longmont, Colo.-based DigitalGlobe are celebrating their share of the company's $500 million NextView satellite imagery contract awarded earlier this month by the National Imagery and...

Rainbow DBS Growth Forecasted.
October 13, 2003... Wall Street analysts are not convinced that fledgling satellite TV provider Jericho, N.Y.-based Rainbow DBS would be able to build a sizable enough subscriber base to develop into a profitable stand-alone business. Its chief competitors have a...

EchoStar Keeps Mystery Alive About Loral Plans.
October 13, 2003... The intention of Littleton, Colo.-based EchoStar Communications [Nasdaq: DISH] in offering to buy the assets of New York-based Loral Space & Communication [OTC BB: LRLSQ.OB] is as inscrutable as EchoStar Chairman and CEO Charlie Ergen. ...

Spotlight: NBC's 'Bloommobile' Expands Role.(Brief Article)
October 13, 2003... The all-terrain vehicle designed by the late NBC News Correspondent David Bloom for use in providing coverage of the Iraq war was re-deployed to track the final days on the campaign trail of California governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger. ...

Small Cable Operators Take On DBS.(Industry Overview)
October 13, 2003... By Jimmy Schaeffler The competitive landscape between satellite and cable operators brings to mind the old adage, "Know your friends well, your enemies better." If the U.S. satellite TV providers consider cable operators as their...

Satellite Manufacturers Boosted By CNES Deal.
October 13, 2003... The fortunes of Europe's leading satellite manufacturers, EADS Astrium and Alcatel Space, have been boosted by the recent announcement that French space agency CNES (Centre National D'Etudes Spatiales) has awarded them a 314 million euro...

SATMODE On Track Despite Challenging Year.
October 13, 2003... SES Global's [Luxembourg: SESG] ambitious project called SATMODE to develop a low-cost satellite return channel to support interactive TV applications for set-top boxes is on track and a commercial trial is likely to take place in October 2004....

Shark Attack in Space: ORBIT Act Bites Back.(Open-Market Reorganization for the Betterment of International Telecommunications Act )
October 13, 2003... By Maury Mechanick One of the strangest pieces of legislation ever enacted by the U.S. Congress is causing major repercussions for the satellite industry. As a Washington veteran for more than two decades, I have never seen anything...

The Satellite News Financial Ticker.
October 13, 2003... Week of Oct. 3 - 9, 2003 Percentage Change Oct. 9 One One Symbol Price Week Month APT SATELLITE HLDGS ATS 2.3 ...

VOOM Unveils Enticing Channels.
October 20, 2003... NEW YORK -- Rainbow DBS faces numerous obstacles in its attempt to become the third high-powered satellite TV services provider in the United States. But that has not stopped it from taking the early lead in offering distinctive highdefinition...

Loral's Assets Rise In Value.
October 20, 2003... Bankruptcy court proceedings seldom involve as much intrigue as those of Loral Space and Communications. The big winner so far seems to be Loral Chairman and CEO Bernard Schwartz, whose claims that the company has valuable assets has been...

PanAmSat Boosts Results Despite Transponder Glut.(Q3 2003)
October 20, 2003... PanAmSat [Nasdaq: SPOT] boosted its third-quarter revenues and profits despite a lingering industry-wide transponder glut in many regions of the world. The satellite operator generated revenues of $210.1 million in its latest quarter,...

Spotlight: GPS Will Track Ocean-going Rower.(Satamatics Fleet View Online)(Brief Article)
October 20, 2003... An adventurous rower who plans to travel across the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans in a 7.8-meter-long boat will be tracked the entire way using the Global Positioning System (GPS). Satamatics Ltd., a Tewkesbury, England-based operator of...

Satellite Radio Hits One Million.(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
October 20, 2003... By Jimmy Schaeffler Although much was said about the U.S. direct broadcast satellite (DBS) industry reaching 20 million subscribers last month, no attention was given when the satellite radio industry recently passed the...

XM's One Million.
October 20, 2003... XM has been working for months on its marketing and promotional materials to ensure maximum benefit when it notches 1 million subscribers on its own. As of early October, the Washington-based satellite radio pioneer reported 929,000 total...

SES Astra CEO Confident Of African Success.(Interview)
October 20, 2003... SES Astra hopes to become a major broadband player in Africa. The European satellite operator has teamed up with two partners, Industrial Development Corp. (IDC) and Africa Venture Partners (AVP), to invest in IP Direct with the intention of...

Space Weather Funding in Jeopardy.(Space Environment Center)
October 20, 2003... By Bruce Mahone A funding dispute in Washington threatens an important U.S. government organization that provides space-related weather information used by satellite operators, airlines and others. The Space Environment Center (SEC) in...

The Satellite News Financial Ticker.
October 20, 2003... Week of Oct. 10 - 16, 2003 Percentage Change Oct. 16 One One Symbol Price Week Month APT SATELLITE HLDGS ATS 2.16...

DirecTV Outmaneuvers EchoStar.
October 27, 2003... DirecTV will pay more than it originally planned for its DirecTV 7S satellite, but it successfully used creative deal-making skills and legal arguments to thwart archrival EchoStar Communications [Nasdaq: DISH] in its effort to buy the bird off...

Sea Launch Eyes Land Missions.
October 27, 2003... Sea Launch, an international joint venture led by Boeing [NYSE: BA], is tapping an additional revenue source by offering launches for medium-sized commercial satellites from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The company will continue...

Intelsat Gains Ground In Buying Loral Assets.
October 27, 2003... The process has been slow but Hamilton, Bermuda-based Intelsat Ltd. moved another step closer to buying Loral's North American assets last week. The satellite services operator also showed why it wants to grow through acquisition when it...

Spotlight: Telesat Establishes U.S. Hub Near Detroit.
October 27, 2003... Telesat, an Ottawa, Canada-based satellite services subsidiary of BCE [NYSE: BCE], is expanding its operations in the United States, choosing metropolitan Detroit as its new U.S. hub. The company is leasing a new 12,000-square-foot facility...

Three Key DBS Events Define October.
October 27, 2003... By Jimmy Schaeffler Three developments in the U.S. satellite TV arena are especially worth highlighting this month. First, there was an impressive rollout by Cablevision Systems [NYSE: CVC] of its new Ku-band, high-powered satellite...

BSkyB Ready For DVR Blast Off In Britain.
October 27, 2003... British satellite TV provider BSkyB is entering a critical few months for its Sky+ DVR (digital video recorder) offering. The News Corp [NYSE: NWS] subsidiary aims to triple the number of Sky+ users in the next eight months. BSkyB has...

Aramiska Gets Ready For Italian Broadband Job.
October 27, 2003... Aramiska, the pan-European satellite broadband provider, aims to enter the Italian broadband market in the second half of next year. The operator currently provides satellite broadband services in the UK, France, Spain, Ireland, Holland and...

Recovery Depends On Demand, Reliability.(Industry Overview)
October 27, 2003... By Roger Rusch For the past 20 years, TelAstra has maintained comprehensive records of satellite contracts, launches, and in-orbit experience. Each year, we update the records and examine the trends. Several characteristics of the industry...

The Satellite News Financial Ticker.
October 27, 2003... Week of Oct. 17 - 23, 2003 Percentage Change Oct. 23 One One Symbol Price Week Month APT SATELLITE HLDGS ATS 2.24 3.7 -4.7 ASIASAT TELECOM ...