13 March 2006
SES ASTRA, an SES GLOBAL company, has signed a second capacity agreement with GlobeCast, an international content management and delivery enterprise. The new transmission capacity subcontracted by SES ASTRA at the orbital position 28.2°/ 28.5° East will be used by GlobeCast to serve the UK and will support the development of new services such as high-definition TV. The first contract with GlobeCast on subcontracted capacity was signed last year.
GlobeCast, a France Telecom subsidiary, operates on five continents and uses a worldwide satellite and fibre network to manage and transport 10 million hours of video and multimedia content each year for its broadcast, corporate, government and retail clients.
Serving the dynamic and rapidly expanding UK market is of highest importance for us, said Alexander Oudendijk, Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of SES ASTRA. “When one of the worlds leading satellite services providers decides to expand its business relationship with us, there can be no greater recommendation for the quality and strength of our service.
The UK is one of the most important satellite television markets in the world and thanks to our customers continued growth in this sector we have had to secure additional capacity, said Juliet Bayliss, GlobeCast UKs Director for Broadcast Services. After the success of our first transponder deal with SES ASTRA, the company was the natural choice when we needed to increase our transmission capacity.
13 March 2006
SES ASTRA, a SES GLOBAL company, enhances its digital services and offers an infrastructure for Free-TV, Pay-TV and additional interactive services. The new offer will be open to all broadcasters and ease the development of digital services on an open technological basis. The offer will consist of playout services, encryption of programme signals, smart card distribution for access and customer relations management. With this offer, TV households will be able to use a future-proof solution for digital TV. For playout and technical services, SES ASTRA will rely on its existing subsidiary ASTRA Platform Services (APS) in Unterföhring near Munich whilst logistics, distribution of smart cards and customer services will be handled by a new SES ASTRA affiliate.
By building up a new service package, we consistently follow our strategy to improve our portfolio as a technical service provider for TV channels and focus their activities on digitization, said Ferdinand Kayser, President and CEO of SES ASTRA. The infrastructure that we offer is completely open for everybody, neutral and non-discriminatory. What we are doing will help all interested Free- and Pay-TV channels to enter the digital age, enabling the distribution of new programmes and programme packages and therefore fostering competition. This is how we will provide an important stimulus for the development of digital TV in Germany and further evidence of the role of the satellite as a technical pioneer.
TV-households will be able to take advantage of the digital offer if they have a satellite dish, a satellite receiver together with an appropriate smart card and if they undertake a simple one-time registration. A receiver is suitable if it either already handles a suitable smart card or can be upgraded to handle such a smart card through an open interface (Common Interface). In order to use the service, users will be charged a low monthly digital flat rate to cover the technical cost of operating the digital infrastructure.
13 March 2006
ASTRA Platform Services (APS), an SES ASTRA company, announced today that it will invite manufacturers of satellite TV receivers to participate in its project to further develop the digital broadcasting infrastructure in Germany. In order to allow manufacturers to decide whether they wish to develop suitable Set-Top-Boxes, APS will disclose and hand out information on basic technical specifications to all interested manufacturers in the course of March and inform manufacturers in a specially dedicated workshop later.
The specifications have been developed by APS in consultation with various Set-Top-Box manufacturers. They lay down basic requirements that are designed to ensure the security, stability and interoperability of the new receiver population and the possibility for broadcasters to offer attractive new services via the infrastructure. They do not restrict further individual technical developments and the inclusion of additional features by each manufacturer.
SES ASTRA had announced last week that it will enhance its digital services and offer a new infrastructure for Free-TV, Pay-TV and additional interactive services. The offer will consist of services like encryption of programme signals, smart card distribution and registration for access. It complements SES ASTRAs existing service offering that includes the grant of access to the Premiere satellite decoder population.
The new infrastructure will be open to all interested manufacturers and broadcasters including German Pay-TV channel Premiere.
13 March 2006
Harris Corporation’s Broadcast Communications Division has established a new office in Dubai Media City in the United Arab Emirates. Harris also has appointed two local industry experts – Jamal Khalili as systems specialist and Sohail Shafi as technical sales specialist – to support the new office and address the increasing needs of the broadcast market across the Middle East. The new office and appointments reflect the significance of the Middle East market to Harris’ overall business and help solidify the company’s broadcast presence in the region.
“Following our recent appointment of Said Bacho as the first general manager in the Middle East for our Leitch business unit, the opening of the Dubai office and the appointments of Jamal and Sohail further strengthen our operations in the region,” said Dave Dougall, vice president of sales, EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa), Harris Broadcast Communications Division. “It is part of our long-term strategy to ensure our customers have local sales and support as we continue to grow our broadcast business in the Middle East, and Dubai Media City provides an ideal location from which to effectively serve this key market.”
With more than 14 years experience in the broadcast industry, Khalili comes to Harris from Pinnacle Systems, where he was responsible for pre-sales and post-sales support. Prior to this, Khalili worked for NewTV and NBN Television in Beirut, Lebanon. Shafi comes to Harris with more than 15 years of engineering experience, having worked with Salam Technical Services, the Leitch products reseller in Dubai; Omnix International; and the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation. Harris has a number of high-profile customers in the region, including Arab Radio & Television (ART) in Jordan Media City in Amman, Jordan; Al-Rai in Kuwait; JCC in Qatar; and the Iraqi Media Network. By establishing the new office and expanding its broadcast sales force in the Middle East, Harris is demonstrating its commitment to provide current and future customers in the region with local sales support.
13 March 2006
Arqiva has renewed its official media partnership with the Midland MF1 Racing team for the second year running and will deliver SNG services throughout the year, including the 2006 British Grand Prix. The content management and delivery leader is to provide facilities for distribution of interviews with the teams drivers and exclusive footage to broadcasters.
Arqiva has a proven track record in providing flexible and cost-effective SNG services and we are keen to tap into this expertise during the 2006 British Grand Prix, says MF1 Racings Director of Business Affairs, Ian Phillips. Having Arqiva on board will vastly increase our media presence and we feel that our transmission requirements are in very capable hands.
SNG is the ideal solution for special sporting fixtures and Arqivas partnership with Midland F1 will provide broadcasters with improved access to the team, says John Dunlop, Arqivas head of marketing services for Satellite Media Solutions. This is an exciting piece of business for us and well enjoy doing it.
13 March 2006
GlobeCast WorldTV Americas premier international direct-to-home satellite television provider has launched Asianet PLUS and Asianet NEWS in the United States. The two new Kerala-based, Malayalam channels join already established AsiaNet as part of GlobeCast WorldTVs Malayalam bouquet which also includes Amrita TV. The new additions address the rapidly expanding Asian community in the U.S. and also bring GlobeCast WorldTVs international channel selection to a total of more than 160.
Asianet NEWS was launched in 1993 by Asianet Communications Ltd., the largest Malayalam satellite television broadcaster. Introduced as a two-hour news segment, the channel has since grown to a premiere 24-hour news service in response to viewer demand. Covering a broad spectrum of local news, the channel also airs an array of programs that offer in-depth reporting on issues such as politics and community affairs. Asianet NEWS is now one of the most popular 24-hour news channels in its native Kerala and around South Asia.
Asianet PLUS, introduced in 2005 as Asianets third offering, is a music and movie channel in step with the latest trends and entertainment interests of the worlds young Asian population. Boasting world-class production facilities in India, Asianet PLUS continually creates a vibrant slate of original programming aimed at Asian youth residing all over the globe.
GlobeCast WorldTV a subsidiary of content management and delivery company GlobeCast is the leading source for international programming on Direct-to-Home satellite in America. The service currently delivers more than 160 market leading television and radio channels in 33 languages representing, 41 countries from Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa, via KU-band satellite on Intelsat Americas 5.
