4 September 2014
SES S.A. announces a new cornerstone in its strategic partnership with EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS) at the orbital position of 105 degrees West with the procurement of the new SES-11 satellite, also to be known as EchoStar 105.
SES-11 will be manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space based on the highly reliable Eurostar E3000 platform. The satellite will be launched into space in Q4 2016.
SES-11 will carry 24 Ku-band transponders as well as 24 C-band transponders (36 MHz equivalent).The spacecraft will have a separated mass of approximately 5,400 kg and an end of life budget for the payloads of approximately 12 kW.
The spacecraft’s Ku-band capacity will replace the existing SES satellite AMC-15 at 105 degrees West, an orbital position where Echostar has been SES’s anchor customer since 2006. The spacecraft’s C-band capacity will also allow SES to provide replacement capacity for AMC-18 at 105 degrees West.
“The market for 50-state transponder capacity in North America has demonstrated significant growth for EchoStar Satellite Services over the past five years – the acquisition of EchoStar 105 renews our commitment to the fixed satellite services market in North America,” EchoStar Satellite Services President Anders Johnson said. “The replacement of AMC-15, with the increased capability offered by EchoStar 105, will allow us to meet the evolving demand from our customers for enterprise, broadcast, and government services applications. We are pleased to work with Airbus Defence and Space to provide our customers with new, high power satellite capacity at this established orbital slot.”
Stated Martin Halliwell, Chief Technology Officer of SES: “SES-11 is the 6th large satellite contract with our longstanding partner EchoStar. The new spacecraft will offer comprehensive coverage of the Americas, including Hawaii, Mexico, and the Caribbean, from a well-established orbital position. Together with EchoStar we look forward to a successful mission in collaboration with our reliable industry partner Airbus Defence.” (Source: SES press release)
3 September 2014
The World Teleport Association (WTA) has opened its global email survey for the Top Operators of 2014 rankings. The Top Operator rankings, published annually by WTA since 2004, are the world’s only rankings of top teleport operating companies serving media, data and voice markets.
Rankings are based on total revenue from all sources and on year-over-year growth. They recognize that, to some extent, every teleport operator competes in the same marketplace – the biggest with the smallest – but that like all marketplaces, the teleport sector has segments in which even the smallest players can compete effectively and achieve strong growth.
From the data provided by its members and other operators, WTA publishes an annual ranking of –
- The Global Top Twenty – based on revenue from all sources and including all operators: from uplinkers to satellite carriers, fiber network operators to systems integrators, technology providers to specialized satcom service providers.
- The Independent Top Twenty – based on revenue from all sources but excluding companies whose primary business is satellite fleet operations or terrestrial network services.
- The Fast Twenty – based on year-over-year revenue growth in their most recent complete fiscal years, and including all operators.
The Top Operators announcement receives press coverage within the industry and provides valuable exposure to the operators included in the rankings. In addition, the Independent Top Twenty are automatically placed in nomination for WTA’s Independent Operator and Teleport Executive of the Year awards, presented in March at SATELLITE.
The Top Operators Email Survey is available on the WTA website. Companies wanting to try for a place on the Top Operators of 2014 rankings must download and fill out the survey, emailing the completed survey to TopOps@worldteleport.org by October 31, 2014. Surveys will not be accepted after this date. More information on the submission process can be found on the first page of the survey document.
3 September 2014
The Broadcasting Board of Governors strongly condemns the reported beheading of American journalist Steven Joel Sotloff by the extremist group Islamic State, and the threat to murder another hostage, David Cawthorne Haines.
“The kidnapping and murders of Steven Sotloff and James Foley were barbaric and abhorrent acts of violence against innocent Americans who were reporting from Syria,” said Jeff Shell, chairman of the BBG. “Killing journalists will not silence the truth about what is happening now at the hands of the Islamic State. Information warfare should not be fought with innocent lives.”
These videos were released two years after Alhurra TV reporter Bashar Fahmi went missing in Aleppo, Syria. There has been no word regarding his whereabouts or well-being since then. Shell renewed the BBG’s call for anyone with information regarding Fahmi to come forward. (Source: Press release)
2 September 2014
Starting on September 3rd, RT will be found on Freeview Channel 135, following the scheduled changes that will affect six news channels in total, including BBC News and Sky News. RT, a global television news channel, has been broadcasting in the United Kingdom since 2006 and on Freeview, Britain’s largest digital terrestrial television with a reach of more than 55 million viewers, since 2010.
With more than half a million weekly viewers RT leads other international news channels, including Euronews and Fox News, in UK’s BABR ratings. RT, which has just received its third International Emmy nomination for news, appeals to UK viewers with a “different take on news from mainstream media”, “informative news coverage”, and the range of stories that are of interest to the audience, according to a survey by Kantar Media.
RT is a global international news network that broadcasts 24/7 in English, Arabic and Spanish from its studios in Moscow and Washington, DC, and is available to 700 million viewers worldwide. RT is the first TV news channel in history to cross the billion views mark on YouTube. RT is the winner of the Monte Carlo TV Festival Awards for best 24-hr broadcast, and the only Russian TV channel to garner three nominations for the prestigious International Emmy Award for News. (Source: Press release)
29 August 2014
Eurosport enhances its status as of the n°1 women’s sports broadcaster in Europe with the launch of the first ever show entirely dedicated to women’s football in France.
The show, called “Femmes 2 Foot”, will air every Monday evening at 22h50 from September 22 on the pan-European broadcaster’s French local channel. The one-hour show will focus on the French Women’s Premier League (D1 Féminine), for which Eurosport France is the rights holder, with a mix of information, results and interviews. “Femmes 2 Foot” will also feature news about the Champions League, the French Cup and the French National team.
Each week a special guest from the world of women’s football will be present in the studio together with the three hosts Candice Prévost, Cécile Locatelli and Romain Balland. (Source: Eurosport press release)
