digiBIZ + BITZ
A new iPhone will be in the hands of students at Abilene Christian University when new classes start this autumn. They’ll use the iPhone or an iPod Touch to gather homework assignments as well as involve themselves in classroom quizzes and surveys, check meal and account balances and more.
Intelsat, Ltd. has informed one and all that U.K.-based ViewAfrica has contracted for additional capacity on the Intelsat 10 satellite for increased channel distribution. ViewAfrica Network is distributing free-to-air programming bouquets reaching all the sub-Saharan countries. ViewAfrica Network, uplinking out of Stellar in Germany, carries a free-to-air bouquet of religious and general entertainment programming that currently includes the following networks: Daystar, LoveWorld, Press TV and Supreme Master TV. ViewAfrica is among 27 DTH platforms built on the global Intelsat system—Pembroke, Bermuda
Microsoft received a record 899 million euro fine (depending upon the value of the USD, this is about $1.3B) from the EU. This brings the total amount of fines to around 1.68 billion euros for the software company in their ongoing legal combat versus the European Commission. The fines followed a five-year investigation into alleged violations of EU competition laws. Within the next 90 days, the EU has demanded Microsoft produce a Windows OS in a European version that does NOT include any form of media player.
digiCONTENT
Launching Black Entertainment Television‘s new European Sky channel is Arqiva. The company was selected by BET International as the platform for the launch, which follows a full month of testing on the Eurobird Satellite. This deal is for five years. BET International will join 250+ programs currently accessing the Sky platform via 40+ multiplexes uplinked from Arquiva’s United Kingdom teleports. BET will be accessible to more than 8.8 million digital satellite homes.
There’s a new “joining forces” agreement between Beers Enterprises Inc. (BEI) and Arqiva’s Satellite Media Solutions division. They have melded their expertise to launch “The London Switch.” Expected to start ops in July of this year, this will be the industry’s first HD-SD capable video switching services with full customer control. Provided will be a cost-saving alternative for local fiber circuits with unlimited switching at fixed rates. Implemented by both parties will be an extension of BEI’s Inter City On Demand (ICOD) video transmission service that will provide digital capacity between the United Kingdom and the United States. The ICOD service links The Switch community routers and offers customers controlled inter-city, end-to-end video transmission.
It’s only eight years old, but the audio console in Corplex, Inc.’s HD mobile unit, Platinum, already rates historic significance—back in 2000 it was the first of Calrec Audio’s Alpha series to be installed and operational anywhere. Now, Calrec engineers are going to spend five days enhancing and rejuvenating this historic Alpha, incorporating Calrec’s signature Bluefin High Density Signal Processing system as well as a host of other features, including flexible TFT metering, full 5.1 surround sound spill control, and the addition of 12 more faders—Hebden Bridge, United Kingdom
New satellites will be bringing all sorts of tremendous content to customers around the globe over the next few months and years. From DTV to HDTV, VoD, Voice-over-Wi-Fi (VoWi-FI) and more, these are the birds that will be claiming their new or co-located orbital slots:
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The new satellite for Eutelsat Communications [Euronext Paris: ETL] is the W3B. Eutelsat announced Thales Alenia Space has now been commissioned to build the satellite. Once in operation, W3B will bring more broadcasting, telecom and broadband services into play for Eutelsat. The new vehicle is scheduled for launch during Q2 of 2010. With the W3B colocation, the number of available transponders will rise from 44 to 70 and there will be an expansion of customers, especially those involved in launching their first HDTV channels. Seven additional satellites are planned for launch prior to the close of 2010, with two this year. The W3B has a schedule, in orbit life expectancy of 15 years.
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The upcoming MEASAT-1R has now been renamed MEASAT-3a and the satellite has been allocated a launch window during Q3 of this year. This was just announced by MEASAT Satellite Systems Sdn Bhd. MEASAT-3a is being built by the highly experienced folk at Orbital Sciences Inc. and MEASAT-3a will wend its way into orbit, courtesy of a LandLaunch Zenith-3SL launch vehicle.
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A new contract has been signed between International Launch Services (ILS) and SIRIUS Satellite Radio [NASDAQ:SIRI] that will result in the launch of two SIRIUS satellites via a Proton Breeze M vehicle. The SIRIUS FM-6 satellite to be launched is under construction at Space Systems/Loral. The anticipated launch date is during Q2 of 2010. The launch date for the second SIRIUS satellite has not yet been announced. The Proton booster and the Breeze M upper stage are built by Khrunichev Space Center of Moscow, an ILS partner, and the launch vehicle and Sirius payload will head skywards from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
WEGENER Corporation [NASDAQ:WGNR) announced the operation of live video broadcasts on a VSAT network from ViaSat Inc. [NASDAQ:VSAT), revealing the compatibility of WEGENER’s video overlay solution for VSAT networks. VSAT networks provide bandwidth solutions for distributing interactive IP data between thousands of data centers, retail locations, corporate LANS, schools, the Internet, and home offices. Using standard ViaSat LinkStar uplink and downlink equipment, WEGENER added live, high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD) video streams to a VSAT network traditionally used to transmit data files. The artifact-free video was successfully decoded by the Wegener SMD 515 IPTV set-top box. For the initial configuration, continuous IP multicasts of MPEG-2 HD and SD video were fed through ViaSat’s uplink switch, QoS and modulator, before transmission over a Ku satellite link. At the receive end, the signal was processed by a ViaSat LinkStar terminal—ultimately the WEGENER SMD 515 IPTV set top box decoded the video streams—Duluth, Georgia
digiRESEARCH
ABI Research has just presented some pretty impressive statistics. In a report at the end of 2007 there were nearly 3.4 billion mobile phone subscribers worldwide, with 2.7 billion on GSM/EDGE/GPRS networks. The forecast for 2013 indicates, if a number of milestones are met, that there will be 90 million 4G subscribers worldwide, including both LTE and WiMAX. Other numbers reveal that worldwide WCDMA subscriber numbers reached 180 million at the end of 2007. ABI Research expects migration to HSPA+ (Evolved HSPA is a 3G mobile data protocol) to begin in early 2010, and migration to LTE will commence by the middle of the same year. And further forecasts indicate the total number of WCDMA subscribers (including HSPA) to approach 720 million in 2013. Other prognosticators recognize that the long-term indicators for CDMA2000, especially in relation to UMB, appear more uncertain with CDMA operators taking advantage of current upgrade possibilities. Many have upgraded portions of their networks to EV-DO Rev A during 2007 while new CDMA entrants start with Rev A. ABI Research expects the total number of CDMA2000 subscribers (including 1x and various versions of EV-DO) to approach 800 million by the end of 2013—Singapore, Hong Kong
Euroconsult reports the satellite TV market has entered into a new growth cycle worldwide. Revenues reached $59 billion at the end of 2007 and the number of satellite TV platforms increased to 92, worldwide, a record. “Satellite TV Platforms, World Survey & Prospects to 2017” examines the current state and future prospects of satellite TV platforms. The report focuses on three areas: content and service strategy; commercial performance; and financial performance. This 400-page report provides benchmarks for satellite TV platforms worldwide; assessment of best commercial practices and structural trends; ten-year forecasts on subscriptions per country; and highlights strategic issues for the sector including consolidation, competition, and emerging breakthrough services. According to the just released report, satellite TV is proving to be a growth driver for the industry—Paris, France
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