Satellite Today articles from December 2004

Satellite Today archives from December 2004

All Systems Go For Delta 4 Heavy Launch.
December 1, 2004... The Boeing Co. and the U.S. Air Force late yesterday said that everything is ready for the inaugural launch of the new Delta 4 heavy rocket, which will take place from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL, on Dec. 10 at 2:31 p.m. EST....

SES Americom Completes Verestar Acquisition.
December 1, 2004... SES Americom, an SES Global company, today announced that it has acquired Verestar for a total cash consideration of $18.5 million, completing the transaction that was first announced last April. The completion follows approval of the...

Northern Sky Research: Next Gen MSS Remains Viable Market.
December 1, 2004... Northern Sky Research today said, "unlike the experience of the late 1990s, next generation mobile satellite services based on the consumption of high-speed data, not narrowband voice, will be a sustainable and viable business proposition over...

Intelsat Taps Glowlink For Monitoring System.
December 1, 2004... Glowlink said that Intelsat will be using the Glowlink Model 1000 spectrum monitoring system for the Intelsat Teleport Monitoring Systems program. The Model 1000 is a DSP-based spectrum monitoring system that Glowlink says is ideal for...

Broadband Pay-TV Option Now Available In Sweden.
December 1, 2004... Viasat Broadcasting has launched its pay-TV services via broadband offering in Sweden. The initial rollout will see 300,000 households in 50 Swedish cities able to gain these services. Modern Times Group (MTG), the parent company of Viasat,...

Canal+ Concludes Key Movie Deal.
December 1, 2004... The Canal+ Group has concluded a deal with Twentieth Century Fox, which will enable subscribers to view first broadcasts of all the movies produced by the US studio between 2007 and 2012. The deal is an extension of a current contract in place....

Orbit To Develop Satcom Solution For U.S. Navy.
December 1, 2004... Orbit International Corp. [ORBT] today announced its Behlman Electronics Inc. power units segment has received $700,000 in orders from the U.S. Navy, part of which will go towards the development of a commercial off-the-shelf power solution for...

Globalstar Broadens Data Service Coverage Over Europe.
December 2, 2004... Globalstar said it has expanded its data service coverage to reach across the Atlantic and all of Europe and North Africa. The company said it will offer simplex, or one-way, data services to customers using its European gateway located in...

Russia And India To Collaborate On Satellite Navigation Project.
December 2, 2004... Russia and India will be collaborating on a satellite navigation project. According to a story filed on newkerala.com on Dec. 2, India will become an "equal and sole partner" of Russia in that country's development of the Global Navigational...

STAR Inks Buena Vista Deal.
December 2, 2004... The STAR Group (STAR) in Asia has boosted its content line-up by renewing a multi-year movie deal with Buena Vista International Television (BVITV-AP). The deal will continue to bring leading blockbusters such as "Starsky and Hutch" and "Cold...

ART To Be Broadcast Over PAS 8 In Australia.
December 2, 2004... Panamsat Corp. today announced that Arab Radio and Television (ART) signed on the new Australian satellite transmission platform PanGlobal TV, allowing ART to transmit five Arabic-language channels directly to more than 50,000 homes in...

Comtech Scores $5.8 Million In Orders From Iraq.
December 2, 2004... Comtech Telecommunications Corp. today said its Comtech Mobile Datacom Corp. subsidiary received initial orders for its new MTS Lite products from the Iraq Project and Contracting Office. The orders are for mobile satellite transceivers,...

Globecomm Nabs Multiple Contracts Totaling Approximately $1.9 Million.
December 2, 2004... Globecomm Systems Inc. today announced it has been awarded multiple contracts from an unidentified existing customer valued at approximately $1.9 million. The contracts represent follow-on work from a contract originally signed in July 2003...

Marines Tap Multiband For Satellite TV.
December 2, 2004... Multiband today said it has been selected by Marine Corps Community Services at the Marine Corps base at Camp Pendleton, CA, to install DirecTV services. DirecTV services will be available in all 177 barracks on the base, making the satellite...

Intelsat Regains Control Of Its Intelsat Americas-7 Satellite.
December 3, 2004... Intelsat Ltd. today said it has regained contact and control of the Intelsat Americas-7 satellite, which went dark Nov. 28 and was thought, at that time, to be permanently lost following a sudden and unusual electrical distribution anomaly. The...

Arianespace Delays Launch.
December 3, 2004... Arianespace has postponed the scheduled Dec. 10 launch of the Helios IIA French military reconnaissance satellite and six small satellites aboard an Ariane 5 launcher. The postponement occurred after an anomaly appeared during ground tests with...

DirecTV Vice Chair Hartenstein Retires.
December 3, 2004... The DirecTV Group [DTV] on Dec. 2 announced that Eddy Hartenstein, the company's vice chairman, will retire effective Dec. 31. Hartenstein has been with DirecTV since 1972 when it was known as Hughes Aircraft Co. He became the president of...

GlobeCast Building Bridges.
December 3, 2004... Bridges TV, an English-language American Muslim television network is the latest addition to GlobeCast WorldTV. Bridges TV will be available through subscription. The network aims to appeal to the under-served niche market of affluent American...

ViaSat Surpasses 30,000 Mark For LinkStar Terminal Shipments.
December 3, 2004... ViaSat said it has shipped more than 30,000 LinkStar bandwidth-on-demand satellite terminals, passing the milestone during the recently completed second quarter of fiscal 2005. Quarterly shipments of LinkStar terminals have doubled since last...

Iridium Supplies Communications For Global Sailboat Race.
December 3, 2004... Iridium Satellite LLC said it provides global satellite communications links for the 20 sailors competing in the Vendee Globe single-handed, round-the-world sailboat race, which began last month. Geolink, a supplier of communications...

Ascent Upgrades NFL Network.
December 3, 2004... NFL Network, a cable and satellite television venture launched by the National Football League, has expanded its operations within the Ascent Media Network Services facility in Stamford, CT, to include new high definition (HD) service...

SkyTerra Agrees To Acquire 50 Percent Ownership In Hughes.
December 6, 2004... SkyTerra Communications Inc. today said it has agreed to acquire a 50 percent stake Hughes Network Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of The DirecTV Group Inc. in exchange for $50 million in cash and 300,000 shares of SkyTerra common stock. ...

WildBlue Projects Nationwide Availability For Mid-2005.
December 6, 2004... In a letter addressed "To All Who Are Interested in WildBlue," WildBlue Communication CEO Tom Moore said his company is currently undergoing initial testing of its broadband satellite Internet service over the Anik F2 satellite and expects to...

Canadian North Airlines Taps Iridium For Flight Data Apps.
December 6, 2004... Canadian North Airlines will use Iridium Satellite LLC's global satellite network for flight data applications, the Mobile Satellite Services provider said. Canadian North will be installing the Iridium-based AFIRS data collection and...

DirecTV Offers Italian News Channel.
December 6, 2004... DirecTV Inc. today said that, starting tomorrow, the direct-to-home satellite television service provider will offer SKY TG24, an Italian news channel. The channel will be available to residential and commercial DirecTV subscribers on an a la...

Foxtel Makes Marketing Appointments.
December 6, 2004... Foxtel, the Australian satellite pay-TV operator, has restructured its marketing department by merging its television and marketing operation into one unit. Foxtel's marketing department will now be divided into general management & subscriber...

Boeing Names Koellner New Head Of Connexion by Boeing.
December 6, 2004... Boeing has named Laurette Koellner the new president of its Connexion by Boeing business unit. Koellner replaces Scott Carlson, who was named vice president of the Boeing Commercial Airplanes sales team. [Copyright 2004 Access Intelligence,...

XM, Sirius Announce Deals With Toyota.
December 7, 2004... XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio have inked separate deals that will bring each company's satellite radio receivers into Toyotamanufactured automobiles. XM said that Toyota has selected it as a supplier for satellite delivered...

Astro Closes In On 1.5 Million Subscribers.
December 7, 2004... Astro All Asia Networks (Astro), the satellite pay-TV operator in Malaysia, has announced that it reached 1.471 million subscribers at the end of October 2004 in its third quarter results. It added almost 85,000 new residential subscribers in...

Arianespace Reschedules Helios IIA Launch For Dec. 18.
December 7, 2004... Arianespace today said that the launch of the Helios IIA satellite has been rescheduled for Dec. 18. The launch was originally scheduled to take place Dec. 10, but it was postponed after the company made the decision to replace a subassembly on...

Swe-Dish Nabs $20 Million Defense Contract.
December 7, 2004... Swe-Dish Satellite Systems said it has been awarded a $20 million frame contract from the U.S. Defense Department for mobile satellite communications equipment and support services. According to the company, the equipment will be used for...

Raytheon-Led Team To Seek TSAT Contract.
December 7, 2004... Raytheon Co. has announced that it will lead a team in pursuit of the $2 billion Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT) Military Operations System, a program that will provide the warfighter with a secure, interoperable,...

Tachyon, Xplornet Launch Satellite Broadband Service In North America.
December 7, 2004... Tachyon Networks Inc. and Xplornet today said they have formed a strategic partnership to offer broadband satellite services to government, enterprises and small- and medium-sized businesses throughout North America. Xplornet, formerly...

G2 Taps New Skies To Launch IP Networking Service.
December 7, 2004... New Skies Satellites B.V. today said G2 Satellite Solutions, a subsidiary of Panamsat focused on government solutions, has selected New Skies' NSS-7 satellite to launch a new, fully-managed Internet Protocol (IP)-networking service in Africa...

Music Choice Selects Panamsat for Delivery Services.
December 7, 2004... Multi-platform music network Music Choice today announced the launch of its signals on Panamsat's Galaxy-5 satellite. The Panamsat bird will carry the signal for the next 15 years. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. [Copyright...

Orbimage Names Schuster COO.
December 7, 2004... Orbimage Inc. today named William "Bill" Schuster the company's new chief operation officer. He most recently serviced as the president of Integrated Systems with BAE Systems, where he developed processes and procedures and established a...

AIA Predicts Growth In Space Industry Sales.
December 8, 2004... The Aerospace Industry Association predicts that the sales in the aerospace industry's space segment will continue to increase in 2005. At the association's annual aerospace industry review and forecast luncheon, the president estimated the...

Eutelsat Signs Key Chinese Deal.
December 8, 2004... Eutelsat's broadband affiliate, Skylogic, has signed a breakthrough deal with leading Chinese telco, Chinasatcom, to improve communications between China and Italy. The deal will see Chinasatcom and Skylogic create a two-way broadband network...

G2 Satellite Solutions, MCI Ink Two-Year Deal.
December 8, 2004... 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...

Japan Schedules Satellite Launch For February 2005.
December 8, 2004... Satellite Today has learned that Japan's government has approved plans to launch a satellite early next year. According to an Associated Press report, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will launch a weather satellite in February....

Orbimage Launches GPS-Enabled Buoys.
December 8, 2004... Orbimage said its SeaStar Fisheries Information Service has released the new OrbBuoy product line. The low-profile buoys are designed to be stealthy to avoid loss, but easily retrievable through the use of GPS and two-way communications, via...

Jetix Europe Sees Double-Digit Revenue Growth.
December 9, 2004... Jetix Europe, formerly Fox Kids Europe, saw its revenues for the financial year ending September 30, up 12 percent to $170.7 million. The pan-European integrated kids' entertainment company is a channel provider to satellite pay-TV operators...

Northern Sky: Standards-Based Broadband Satellite Platforms Poised For Growth.
December 9, 2004... According to new research released by Northern Sky Research, the market for standards-based broadband satellite solutions has become somewhat more positive than in early 2003. The independent market research firm noted in its "DVB-RCS and...

Comtech Receives Multi-Year Satellite Equipment Contract.
December 9, 2004... Comtech Communications Corp. today announced its Comtech EF Data subsidiary received a multi-year contract for satellite communications equipment to be deployed in security and defense networks in Europe. Comtech said the initial order against...

Sat TV Pirate Gets Seven Years.
December 9, 2004... DirecTV Inc. said that Martin Mullen, also known as Martin Stewart, was sentenced earlier this week by the U.S. District Court of the Middle District of Florida to seven years in prison and ordered to pay DirecTV and a subsidiary of NDS Ltd.,...

DirecTV Board Goes To 11 With Saban Election.
December 9, 2004... The DirecTV Group has 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. "Haim is a highly respected international...

Intelsat Americas-8 Launch Delayed.
December 10, 2004... Intelsat today said it would delay the launch of Intelsat Americas-8 until completion of the investigation of what caused the Intelsat Americas-7 to go dark on Nov. 28. Sea Launch LLC scheduled the IA-8 for launch on Dec. 17. Intelsat has...

Galileo Gets Thumbs Up From EU Transport Ministers.
December 10, 2004... Satellite Today has learned that European Union (EU) transport ministers have approved the building and deployment of the Galileo satellite navigation system. The satellite navigation system, which will operate in tandem with the U.S. GPS...

Eumetsat Formalizes Launch Plans.
December 10, 2004... Eumetsat, the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, has announced plans for the launch of its latest satellites. At a recent meeting in Toulouse, France, the 56th council of Eumetsat agreed the timetable for...

Delta 4 Heavy Launch Delayed.
December 10, 2004... The demonstration launch of the Boeing Delta 4 Heavy rocket was pushed back 24 hours to Dec. 11 due to adverse weather conditions, including ground winds, clouds and isolated thunderstorm in the vicinity of the pad and the rocket's flight path,...

Engineered Support Systems To Acquire Spacelink International.
December 10, 2004... Engineered Support Systems Inc. said it has entered into a binding, definitive agreement to purchase the membership interests of Spacelink International LLC, a firm involved in the design, integration, operation and maintenance of deployed...

SIA Names New Director Of Government Affairs.
December 10, 2004... The Satellite Industry Association (SIA) has named Michael Beavin its new director of government affairs. In this role, Beavin will be overseeing all satellite-focused legislative and policy issues facing Congress and the Administration for...

Investor Group Preps Bid For Mexico's Satmex.
December 13, 2004... According to Reuters, a group of investors is planning an offer to buy Mexican satellite firm Satmex. Mexico City-based Constellation Group, an investment vehicle created for the takeover effort, has pledged a cash infusion of $120 million and...

Delta 4 Heavy Launch Scrubbed.
December 13, 2004... Boeing said that a planned Dec. 11 demonstration launch of its Delta 4 Heavy launch vehicle was scrubbed following an outage of the rocket's environmental control system. Engineers have not yet determined the root cause of the system outage....

BSkyB Extends Sky Text.
December 13, 2004... BSkyB, the U.K. satellite pay-TV operator, will make 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...

GM Signs Up Millionth XM Subscriber.
December 13, 2004... The value of the deals between satellite radio operators and automakers becomes evident when announcements such as that made by XM Satellite Radio are released. Today, XM said that General Motors has signed up its one-millionth subscriber,...

Radyne ComStream Received $1.3 Million Satellite Modem Order.
December 13, 2004... Radyne ComStream today said it received a $1.3 million order from an unidentified Asian telecom provider for its DMD20 satellite modem. Radyne said the customer will use the modems in its GSM backbone. The order is for immediate delivery. ...

Sirius Tapped For Nasdaq-100 Index.
December 13, 2004... Sirius Satellite Radio today said it has been added to the Nasdaq-100 index. The Nasdaq-100 Index comprises the 100 largest non-financial stocks listed on the Nasdaq based on market capitalizations. "The addition of Sirius to the...

Maxwell Introduces Space-Qualified Digital-To-Analog Converter.
December 13, 2004... Maxwell Technologies Inc. had 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...

State and Local Government Leaders Seek Meeting with Communications Industry.
December 13, 2004... State and local government groups, including the National Governors Association, National Conference of State Legislatures, National Association of Counties, National League of Cities, United States Conference of Mayors, Council of State...

Swe-Dish CEO Predicting Revenue Growth in 2005.
December 14, 2004... Swe-Dish Satellite Systems, a supplier of satellite communications equipment, expects strong revenue growth in 2005. The company recently won a contract with the U.S. Defense Department for mobile satellite communications equipment in a deal...

AMC 16 Launch Details Revealed.
December 14, 2004... International Launch Services (ILS) said the window for the launch of the Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems Co.-built AMC 16 will open Dec. 17 at 4:41 a.m. EST. The satellite will launch from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in...

C4 Awarded $229 Million In Contracts For U.S. Military.
December 14, 2004... The Arizona Republic today is reporting that General Dynamics C4 Systems has received a $209 million contract from Orbimage Inc. to build an imaging satellite for the U.S. military. The satellite is expected to be launched in early 2007 and...

Sirius Taps Navteq For Real-Time Traffic Service.
December 14, 2004... Navteq today announced that it has been selected by Sirius Satellite Radio to provide it with real-time traffic information. The new service offered by Sirius will provide consumers with regularly updated traffic information, including...

HyperSpace Communications Inks Reseller Deal With iDirect.
December 14, 2004... HyperSpace Communications Inc. today said it has signed a reseller agreement with iDirect Technologies Inc. Under the terms of the deal, iDirect will deploy HyperSpace's HyperWeb 7.0 in the satellite broadband access market. HyperWeb 7.0...

XM Joins Nasdaq-100.
December 14, 2004... XM Satellite Radio has been added to the Nasdaq-100 index. The Nasdaq-100 Index comprises the 100 largest non-financial stocks listed on the Nasdaq based on market capitalizations. "We are honored to be included in the Nasdaq-100 and listed...

Sherrod Vans To Offer KVH Satellite TV Antenna.
December 14, 2004... KVH Industries Inc. said that Sherrod Vans, a high-end van converter, will be offering its TracVision A5 low-profile satellite TV antenna as an option for its new vehicles. The TracVision A5 antenna allows for in-motion reception of DirecTV...

China Completes Work On Small Satellite Engineering Center.
December 14, 2004... China has completed the construction of an engineering facility dedicated to the development of small satellites, according to news item on www.chinaview.ca that appeared today. The report quotes an unnamed official saying the facility has a...

SK Telecom Gets Mobile Satellite Television License.
December 14, 2004... Yonhap News reported today that South Korea has granted a license to provide mobile satellite television services to TU Media, a venture company partially owned by mobile phone operator SK Telecom Co. The company, according to the report, is...

French Government Bans Terrorist Station From Satellite.
December 14, 2004... United Press International reported today that the French Council of State has ordered Eutelsat to cease broadcasting the Lebanese-based station al-Manar. The station was banned for broadcasting racist messages to viewers in France. al-Manar is...

U.S., Russia To Begin Talks On Satellite Navigation Cooperation.
December 15, 2004... The U.S. and Russia intend to begin preliminary discussions on an agreement for cooperation between the U.S. GPS satellite navigation system and the Russian Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS). In a statement released by the U.S....

FCC Issues New Service Rules For Earth Stations.
December 15, 2004... The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today adopted rules for satellite earth stations on vessels (ESVs) in the C- and Ku-bands. The commission said these rules would provide regulatory certainty to ESV licensees while protecting...

Alcatel Delivers Telescope To CNES.
December 15, 2004... Alcatel Space has completed work on a telescope, which will be part of a scientific mission throughout the next couple of years. It has delivered the Corotel telescope to the National Institute for Sciences of the Universe on behalf of French...

Orbcomm, VeriChip Ink Application Development Deal.
December 15, 2004... Orbcomm today said it inked an agreement with VeriChip Corp. to provide satellite and telecommunications services for applications, to be developed, with an implantable radio frequency identification (RFID) microchip. Under the terms of the...

Gilat Granted License For Turbo Code Patents.
December 15, 2004... Specta Licensing Group today said that France Telecom has granted Gilat Satellite Networks a worldwide license allowing Gilat to use France Telecom's patented Turbo Code products in Gilat's SkyEdge DVB-RCS next generation VSAT product line....

Satellite Radio Spared FCC Indecency Scrutiny.
December 16, 2004... The Associated Press is reporting today the Federal Communications Commission has rejected a request to begin imposing indecency standards on satellite radio broadcasts. Saul Levine, an owner of three radio stations in California, submitted a...

Satelinx Nabs $525,000 Purchase Order, Forms Joint Venture.
December 16, 2004... Satellite vehicle tracking services providers Satelinx International Inc. today said it has received an initial purchase order for 1,300 units of an undisclosed product worth $525,000. The initial purchase order comes to Satelinx as the...

OHB-System Taps EaglePicher Battery For German Recon Satellite System.
December 16, 2004... The Defense and Space Power Division of EaglePicher Technologies LLC said OHB-System AG will use its nickel-hydrogen single pressure vessel battery to power the SAR-Lupe, the future German satellite constellation that will be used for radar...

Dish Adds South Asia World To International Programming, Local Channels In Meridian, MS.
December 16, 2004... EchoStar Communications Corp. today said its Dish Network direct-to-home satellite television service has added South Asia World, a 24-hour news and infotainment channel dedicated to South Asians living in the United States, to its...

Cyfrowy Polsat Taps Kudelski For Conditional Access Services.
December 16, 2004... According to a Dec. 16 AFX wire report, Kudelski SA said its Nagravision business unit won a contract from Polish satellite operator Cyfrowy Polsat to transfer its network to Nagravision's new conditional access system. Financial terms of the...

AMC-16 Successfully Launched.
December 17, 2004... International Launch Services said today that it has successfully launched the Lockheed Martin-built AMC-16 satellite for SES Americom. The satellite was launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 7:07 a.m. EST on an Atlas...

U.S. Following French Lead In Banning Hezbollah Station.
December 17, 2004... According to a Dec. 16 report posted on www.JTA.org, a global news service for the Jewish community, The United States has placed the television station al-Manar on its terrorism watch list, effectively banning its broadcast into the U.S. The...

China Telecom To Lease Weida Satellite Links.
December 17, 2004... Weida Communications Inc. today said Guangzhou Weida Communications Technology Co. Ltd. (which Weida has control of and a majority profit-sharing interest in) has entered into an agreement with China Telecom, which will lease Weida satellite...

Ariane 5 Launch Gets Final Thumbs Up.
December 17, 2004... Arianespace officials gave their final approval for the Dec. 18 mission that will launch the French Helios 2A military reconnaissance satellite on an Ariane 5 rocket. The rocket also is carrying six small-sat auxiliary payloads. ...