Russia sends military satellite into orbit

Russia has successfully put a military satellite named Cosmos-2450 into orbit, news agencies reported, citing a Spaces Forces spokesman. The satellite entered the target orbit at 21:06 Moscow time (1706 GMT). It was launched on a Soyuz-U rocket from the Plesetsk space center in northwest Russia, said spokesman Alexei Zolotukhin. "The operation proceeded as scheduled," the Itar-Tass quoted Zolotukhin as saying. The satellite would remain under Space Forces' control, he added. Russian Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin said earlier that two military communication satellites and a "totally new military intelligence satellite" would be launched this year.

Conax - strong global growth

Conax has reported 36% revenue growth in 2008 based on global sales of its smart card security solutions. Conax had strong growth in Europe, India, China and Latin America. Conax, originally a research project at global telecom operator Telenor, is the third largest provider of content security globally for digital TV. "A comprehensive digitalisation process is taking place globally, with an anticipated doubling of today's 350 million digital TV households by 2013", explains Geir Bjørndal, EVP Sales & Marketing, Conax. "Since the inter-nationalisation of Conax technology began in 2001, Conax has developed a broad customer base. Conax experienced 68% growth in the Indian market in just 1 year, and is now the market leader in Latin America. As many operators are now entering the start-phase of digitalisation, we are confident that a strong demand for our security solutions will continue," added Geir Bjørndal.

NDTV imagine launched in USA

NDTV Imagine, the Hindi General Entertainment channel from the NDTV Group, is now available to viewers in the United States of America, exclusively on American DISH Network DTH platform. Mr. Tharun Rai, Vice President, Distribution, NDTV Imagine said, "We are glad to partner with Dish Networks to serve Imagine's entire range of programming to Hindi speaking South Asians living in United States". NDTV Imagine has joined hands with World Media Connect LLC (WMC) headed by Dheeraj Kapuria for its European and American Operations. WMC will be responsible for NDTV Imagine's Marketing, Distribution and Advertising Sales in the territory.

DishTV to add 3 million subscribers

DishTV plans to add about 2.5 to 3 million subscribers in the country during the current fiscal. This will take their subscriber base to 7.5 to 8 million. “We have a subscriber base of 5 million and intend to add 2.5 to 3 million subscribers during the current fiscal,” Anindya Sengupta, Deputy Vice President (Sales), DishTV said. He said, their lowest package starts from Rs 62. While silver package starts from Rs 125 with 135 channels, the gold channels starts from Rs 210 with 155 channels. The platinum package costs Rs 293 with 185 channels. The existing customers will get the benefit of these schemes till the renewal of their membership.

SkyCable launches high definition TV service

Leading cable television service provider SkyCable has brought television viewing to a higher level with the introduction of high definition TV (HDTV), the new standard in TV technology fast sweeping across the United States, Europe and Asia. The new service is now available to its subscribers in Metro Manila in areas that are digital-ready. SkyCable officials revealed that about 90 percent of the metropolis is digital-ready. The company has around 100,000 subscribers in Metro Manila, of which around 40 percent are already using the digital platform.

Intelsat reveals satellite plans for MEA region

Intelsat has confirmed it will launch a new satellite serving ‘networks and media customers’ in the Middle East and Africa. The Intelsat 22 satellite, which is scheduled to launch in Q1, 2012, will serve at the 72° East longitude orbital location over the Indian Ocean region. The satellite will supply 48 C- and 24 Ku-band 36 MHz equivalent transponders to clients, providing for telecommunications and digital broadcast services in both markets. Its Ku-band payload will provide coverage of the Middle East and East Africa, with connectivity to Europe. Intelsat claims the Ku-band payload will include a mobility beam bridging South East Asia, the Indian Ocean and the coastline of Africa. “Intelsat continues to see strong growth in the Africa and Middle East regions and for connectivity between Asia and Africa,” said Intelsat executive VP of Global Sales and Marketing, Stephen Spengler. "The 72º East longitude orbital location is ideal for addressing these requirements and for delivering follow on capacity for our network services.”

Zee to launch a Telugu movie channel

Zee News Ltd (ZNL) has decided to launch a Telugu movie channel, adding to its existing bouquet of a general entertainment and a recently launched news channel. The channel will be called Zee Cinemalu. "We have decided to launch a Telugu movie channel. It makes business sense for us as we have lapped up a lot of movies which we are currently using in our general entertainment channel," a source in the company says. ZNL has applied to the Information and Broadcasting ministry and is waiting for approval. "We have obtained some level of maturity in that market. The movie channel will fortify our position in the Telugu market," the source adds.

BBC Persian Channel launches on YouTube

BBC World Service has announced the launch of a new BBC Persian Channel on online video community YouTube. The new channel's launch further expands BBC's outreach to Persian-speaking audiences on a range of platforms adding to BBC's current radio, television and online offerings for the Persians. The BBC Persian Channel on YouTube offers video material covering political, social, economic, scientific and cultural issues with reports from the Corporation's unparalleled global network of correspondents, including reporters of bbcpersian.com covering events and issues of special interest to the Persian-speaking audience. Video clips illustrating major world events will also be available. BBC's Persian Channel will carry clips and excerpts from BBC Persian TV's wide range of original programmes including the popular weekly politics, youth and interactive programmes, as well as music, arts and culture, science and technology and sports.

Iran says its satellite concludes mission successfully

Iran said its first home-built satellite has successfully concluded its mission, the local satellite Press TV reported. Iran's "first domestically-made telecommunications satellite Omid has successfully concluded its mission and re-entered the atmosphere," Press TV said. Iranian scientists have tracked the satellite plunging back to the Earth's atmosphere above South America and the Pacific Ocean, the report said, without elaborating on its whenabouts. Earlier in February, Iran sent its first home-built Omid (Hope)lightweight telecommunications satellite into space by the Iranian-produced satellite carrier Safir 2. Equipped with two frequency bands and eight antennae, Omid was to transmit information to and from earth while orbiting the planet 15 times a day. The satellite was to terminate its mission within one to three months. Officials at the Iranian Aerospace Organization have announced that they have planned to launch another satellite into orbit this summer.

Galileo satellite GIOVE-B marks its first year in

The GIOVE-B navigation satellite has successfully completed its first year in orbit. The 500 kg satellite, which was built by an industrial team led by Astrium under contract to the European Space Agency, is the second of two in-orbit demonstration missions for Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system. Dr. Reinhold Lutz, Director of Navigation, Astrium said: “The success of GIOVE-B proves Astrium’s expertise in developing complex navigation satellites. This mission has enabled engineers to carry out the necessary in-orbit tests of the new technologies required for Galileo and lead the way for a navigation system that is vital to both Europe’s economic and technological future.”

India launches spy satellite RISAT-2

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has launched an all weather spy satellite at 6:45 a.m. from the spaceport in Sriharikota, boosting India’s defence surveillance capabilities. The PSLV-C12 rocket ascended towards the sky and placed its first Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT 2) and micro-educational satellite ANUSAT into orbit about 19 minutes later in a textbook launch. The 300-kilogram spy satellite, Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT-2), was acquired by India from Israel recently. The satellite would mainly keep a watch on the country’s borders round-the-clock and facilitate the anti-infiltration and anti-terrorist operations. The Indian security forces were anticipating the launch of this much-needed satellite, specially after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, as India’s existing satellites get non-operational at night and in the monsoon season. ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair expressed his hope on the bright future of the country’s expanding defence surveillance potential. He said that the year 2009 has started on a good note.

Sea launch deploys new Galaxy for North America

A communications satellite that will broadcast a range of international television channels to North America was sent into space to replace the aging spacecraft currently doing that job. A commercial Sea Launch Zenit 3SL booster began its successful 63-minute ascent carrying the Galaxy 19 spacecraft from a converted oil-drilling platform positioned in equatorial waters of the Pacific about 1,400 miles south of Hawaii. Liftoff occurred at exactly 0927:59.108 GMT (5:27:59.108 a.m. EDT). "Another fantastic launch," said Kjell Karlsen, president and general manager of Sea Launch. "It's what we call a very boring launch, which is very good. Everything was right on target." The two Ukrainian-made lower stages of the rocket performed their firings to propel the Russian Block DM-SL upper stage and Galaxy satellite out of the atmosphere during the initial eight-and-a-half minutes of flight.

Inmarsat signs new distribution deals

Mobile satellite services operator Inmarsat has signed new distribution agreements with "all of its major partners" and will begin operating under the new arrangements immediately, London-based Inmarsat has announced. The company has also completed its acquisition of Stratos Global Corp., one of its two major distributors, as expected.

Star home shopping channel planned

Star India has declared its plans to launch a home shopping TV channel. The new channel will be a 50:50 joint venture with Korea's CJ Home Shopping Network.The Star CJ Network India home shopping channel is scheduled for launch in the second half of 2009. CJ Home Shopping CEO Harri Lee says, "With a population of 1.1 billion, India offers a blue ocean opportunity in home shopping. Working with leading media company Star and leveraging on the success CJ has had in markets such as Korea and China, we plan to offer a trendy and stylish home shopping television experience."

Dish TV targets 8m subs

Dish TV declared that it expects to add about 3 million new subscribers by March 2010, taking its total to 8 million. "We already have about five million subscribers and in the next year, we should add another three million taking the total number to eight million," Dish TV Chief Operating Officer, Mr Salil Kapoor said. Dish TV has also confirmed its plans to add another 200 channels next year from the current 200 to its bouquet. This will help it push growth and maintain an edge in the very competitive Indian DTH market. Today DTH accounts for approximately 10% of all Indian cable and satellite households.

DTH growth stalls

Ater adding over 1.1 million subscribers in October, DTH subscriber growth has dwindled drastically from mid-November. It has dropped by 30% to 40% since. Vikram Kaushik, CEO, Tata Sky, admits that the consumer has definitely become more price sensitive, with increasing numbers opting for its cheaper and most basic package, yielding very poor returns for the platform. Acknowledging concern DishTV, CEO - Salil Kapoor said "The industry's business model is such that we have to heavily subsidise set top boxes and we need to retain our subscribers for a minimum of 2 to 3 years."

SES ASTRA and Yahsat start Middle East Satellite Company

SES ASTRA, an SES company has announced that it has entered into a partnership with the Arabic satellite operator Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat) to create a new company operating under the YahLive brand that will offer Direct-to-Home (DTH) television capacity and services to more than two dozen countries in the Middle East, North Africa and South West Asia, a large region mainly including the Gulf states and the Maghreb. YahLive will offer DTH satellite services to free-to-air and pay-TV broadcasters in this region. It will own and commercialise 23 BSS-transponders on the Yahsat 1A spacecraft to be positioned at the 52.5 degrees East orbital position and operating in the Ku-band frequency. The satellite, procured from a consortium of EADS Astrium and Thales Alenia Space, is currently under construction and is scheduled to be launched by the fourth quarter of 2010. Yahsat is a private joint stock company based in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates and owned by Mubadala, the investment arm of the government of Abu Dhabi.

UAE nears satellite deal with Israel

Abu Dhabi is negotiating an commercial deal with Israel that would grant the Arabian emirate access to the Israeli-built Eros B satellite and its high-resolution imagery, in addition to services it already receives from its precursor, the Eros A. The prospective deal follows an unpublicized 2006 contract between Abu Dhabi and ImageSat International, owners and operators of the Eros A and B, which are essentially commercial knock-offs of Israel's Ofeq spycraft. For Israel, the deal represents the latest step in forging links with a key moderate Arab state which, like Israel, worries about the threat from Iran. Much of the UAE's conventional military investment - along with billions of dollars spent by other Gulf Cooperation Council states - is aimed at deterring Iran. Both Eros satellites, as well as the Ofeq series, are built by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Israel's largest defense firm with a controlling interest in Tel Aviv-based ImageSat. The prospective deal is considered important to both parties, given the decade-old Eros A satellite is expected to run out of fuel around 2010. ImageSat is incorporated in the Dutch Antilles, includes many American shareholders and investors, and deals exclusively with commercial imagery sales and services from the dual-use satellites on the world market.

Iedeto enables TV on mobile

The digital content solution provider Irdeto has launched a new business solution Entriq to enable customers around the world to view most of the Indian TV programs on their cell phones and personal computers (PC). "The idea is to take the television content to new platforms - mobile and personal computers," Irdeto India country manager Sanjiv Kainth told. "The technology is available through two networks - broadcasters and telcos," Mr. Kainth said. Mr. Kainth said the company was already in advance discussions with a leading content provider in India for launching its services abroad and has also completed a soft launch.

BSKYB plans music service

BskyB is working with mobile music specialist Omnifone on the technology to provide unlimited digital music service to rival Apple's iTunes. It offers Internet access to songs for a monthly fee. Any broadband user will be able to listen to as many tracks as they like either through their computer or their television. Users can also download and keep their favorite tracks which are free of DRM software to be played on any device. Sky expects to launch the service in the spring. Omnifone already has European rights to a catalogue of about 5m tracks.

ESPN launches HD service in Brazil

ESPN has announced the availability of a 24-hour high-definition (HD) service in Brazil on the Sky platform. This is part of the recently conceived 10-channel package for the South American country. The new HD channel will include Uefa Champions League, The Spanish League, The Italian League among others. "The launch of ESPN HD Brazil reinforces our commitment to provide fans the best quality sports programming. We launched our first HD service outside the U.S. last June in Australia and are now pleased to offer fans in Brazil the same experience," said ESPN International EVP and MD Russell Wolff.

TV to reach RS 473 bn in 2013

The Indian television industry, which is estimated to have reached a size of Rs 24050 Crores, is projected to grow at a CAGR of 14.5% over 2009-13 and reach a size of Rs 47260 Crores. By 2013 there would be 149 million TV homes and 85% of them would be cable and satellite. Subscription revenues will grow at a CAGR of 14.9% over the next 5 years. Some of the growth drivers for the sector would include rapid growth in the number of digitised households, steady increase in ARPUs (average revenue per user) realised through digital distribution platforms, growth in the number of channels - especially in niche and regional categories, and growth in the number of TV and C&S households. These were some of the projections in the 2009 FICCI KPMG report.

Cable sector grows in Europe

European cable industry revenue reached to €18.2 billion, a 7% increase over last year . Demand for digital television, internet broadband and telephony services grew sharply from 41 million subscriptions in 2007 to 51 million in 2008. Including the 43 million customers who watch analog cable TV, the total number of subscriptions grew to 94 million, according to figures compiled by Screen Digest. The figures shows that total cable industry revenues in Europe rose to €18.2 billion in 2008, compared with €16.96 billion in the previous year. Cable now accounts for 58% of all pay-TV homes in Europe.

TV spends to decrease

US Consumer spending on Subscription-TV, broadband, and mobile services by US consumers will fall by 15% during the next 12 months, which could be around $5 billion, In-Stat estimates show. Yet In-Stat's recent survey reveals that broadband service is among the most integral parts of consumers‚ lives. Over 66 million consumers across demographic categories are using the Internet while camped out on their sofas watching TV. "Some male age groups had 40% to 50% of respondents using a PC while watching TV, and about 30% of females under the age of 40 are also using a PC while watching TV," says Gerry Kaufhold of In-Stat.

Boeing won contract to build satellite

Boeing Co. won a contract to build a satellite for Intelsat Ltd. to operator having the biggest satellite fleet that will serve commercial markets and the Australian military. Launched is exptected in the first quarter of 2012 and singal will cover Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. The satellite also will be used by the Australian military.

Intelsat Unit signs deal with Australia’s military

Intelsat Ltd. has signed a $167 million contract with Australia’s military to provide communication services. For Intelsat’s this agreement is an important element of bid to expand its share of the fastest growing part of the commercial satellite industry: supplying bandwidth to the Pentagon, other federal agencies and foreign governmental entities. As the operator of the world’s largest commercial satellite fleet, Bermuda-based Intelsat already has a robust government business. Intelsat dedicates part of a big satellite that is still under construction for use by the Australian Defence Force for 15 years. They want to launched a new portion of satellite in 2012.

Japan wants to launch up to 100 micro-satellites

The Japanese Government in planning to launch a cluster of 100 micro-satellites, each costing between $3 and $4 million, in order to create the possibility of natural disaster or traffic jams watching. “Such satellites can be developed and deployed faster and more cheaply than typical satellites,” said Science Ministry spokesman Tokuyuki Aso. It is possible to increase the frequency and detail of observations with such equipment.