When discussing the Ku-band commercial airline broadband access market, the image that comes to mind is that of a famous animation movie where a donkey travels to a faraway land constantly asking the ogre driving the carriage: "Are we there yet?" Today, the answer would be, "Just about there," to which the donkey’s reply would be, "Ahhh! Finally."

This is also the feeling of the market, after almost three years of travelling since the first Ku-band broadband Internet service in the sky, Connexion-by-Boeing (CbB), was shut-down.

The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) released new data for Asia’s pay-TV market, showing 71million digital pay-TV households out of 300 million pay-TV subscriptions across Asia during its annual convention in Hong Kong, October 28, 2008.

The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) released new data for Asia’s pay-TV market, showing 71million digital pay-TV households out of 300 million pay-TV subscriptions across Asia during its annual convention in Hong Kong, October 28, 2008.

A new generation of satellites, and spectrum assigned to mobile satellite services, will play a prominent role in the next major development in television and radio broadcasting.

·         Satellites will enable relatively rapid roll-outs across major regions of the world and spectrum assigned to mobile satellite services holds the key to unlocking this potentially massive market.

·         A combination of satellite and terrestrial transmission will deliver the next generation of television, radio and associated multimedia services to mobile and in-vehicle receivers.

Worldwide IPTV Service Revenue Will Reach $19 Billion in 2012

Worldwide subscriptions to internet Protocol television (IPTV) services are on pace to reach 19.6 million subscribers in 2008, a 64.1 per cent increase from 12 million subscribers in 2007, according to Gartner, Inc. Worldwide IPTV revenue is projected to total $4.5 billion in 2008, a 93.5 per cent increase from 2007 revenue of $2.3 billion.

ITU launched its key Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Report for the Asia-Pacific region at ITU TELECOM ASIA 2008, which got under way  in Bangkok, Thailand, September 1. The Report focuses on broadband connectivity as a vehicle for content to drive development and build a knowledge-based information society.

Inmarsat’s new, Fleet Broadband services is facing never anticipated competition.  Its huge investment in its i4 satellite system and its revenue stream are being challenged by the proliferation of Ku Band deep ocean coverage and new hybrid VSAT/L Band solutions as well as by Iridium’s new OpenPort service. For those merchant shipping users that demand high capacity broadband, typically large fleet owners, rising demand for fixed priced broadband is making Inmarsat’s “pay-by-the-byte” services unaffordable at high usage levels and price-challenged at low usage levels.

The IMS Research study The Worldwide Market for High-Definition TV Equipment & Services – 2008 Edition estimates that 45 million households worldwide received HDTV service via DTH, cable, IPTV and DTT at the end of 2007 with approximately the same number of HDTV sets shipping during the year. IMS Research forecasts that 255 million TV households worldwide will be watching HDTV by the end of 2013, including video households viewing only pre-recorded non-broadcast programs.

In the wake of personal navigation devices' success, cellular carriers have started to offer on-board and off-board navigation solutions, as well as a range of LBS (Location Based Services) such as friend finder and local search on GPS handsets. Community and social-networking-related functionality, such as the sharing of POIs (Points of Interest) and geo-tagged pictures, is also becoming popular and is expected to boost GPS-enabled handset uptake as carriers, handsets manufacturers, and service providers look to capitalize on the LBS trend.

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.

In the cable sector, Comcast and other companies are building up their network capacity and CableLabs’ DOCSIS 3.0 with 160 Mbs channel bonding enables a new level of IP video services. Telecoms such as Verizon have become veterans at delivering TV services over hundreds of video, music and HD channels. Their FiOS business reached 1.5M subscribers last year.