News Analysis

Summit, Mt. Everest, Nepal, May 27, 2008 – J. Armand Musey and his climbing team successfully reached the 29,028-foot summit of Mt. Everest, capping an arduous six-week expedition over the most challenging terrain in the world.

by Dan Freyer

Its NAB time again, and as you read this many of us in the industry will be gearing up for that lovely confab in the city of lost wages. I have one recommendation: check out satellite HD, MPEG-4, transcoding, and DVB-S2 products.

by Howard Greenfield

IPTV continues to offer a mix of opportunities and challenges. As telecoms sprint to become video network operators, broadcast, media, and satellite companies everywhere are placing their bets on what’s around the corner.

by Jimmy Schaeffler, The Carmel Group

Many, if not most, who I consulted with through the many months leading to the March 24, 2008, U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Sirius-XM merger-to-monopoly decision, believed it would favor the merger. But just about everyone was nonplussed by the form it took. This is because not only were there no conditions, caveats, or concerns expressed, but the rationale used to justify it was just plain bizarre. Indeed, this satellite radio decision gives new (and derisive) meaning to the words “monopoly,” “competition” and “antitrust regulation” in America.

 by Virgil Labrador, Editor-in-Chief

With all the fears of a recession and a tightening financial market hanging over the satellite industry in 2008, one  particular market that has provided a good revenue stream for the industry in recent years may remain constant or even continue to grow.

By Bruce Elbert, President, Application Technology Strategy, Inc.

Markets for satellite communications equipment and services have expanded to fill the gaps in terrestrial broadcasting and telecommunications networks. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Middle East, which is the focus of this article. Comprising this picture are satellite operators, such as Arabsat and Nilesat; teleport operators in particular countries such as Dubai, Egypt and Jordan; and service providers who utilize these facilities to deliver applications to their Middle Eastern customers. An example of the latter would be companies that provide Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) services in a two way satellite communications format that use a particularly small dish (70 cm to 1.2 m) to transmit low bandwidth data such as credit card transactions and provide medium data rate Internet services. Satellite TV is a very important service for the region as it occupies most of the available satellite transponders in the region.