The opening plenary session of the IBC2010 conference will feature an address by Sir Michael Lyons, the chairman of the BBC Trust, on the future of public service broadcasting.

The CASBAA Convention 2010 to be held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Hong Kong on October 25th – 28th will be focusing on digital content delivery. This year’s theme is “Unlock Your Networks” and it aims to connect the dots between Platforms, Channels, Technologies and Partnerships.

Despite a limited market slowdown, the fixed satellite market reached a new high in revenues last year, according to Euroconsult’s soon-to-be-released report “Satellite Communications & Broadcasting Markets Survey, Forecasts to 2019.” The fixed satellite sector grew both in terms of transponder demand (+5.3%) and revenue reaching $10.3 billion revenue in 2009. The company maintains a positive outlook for the future of the industry.

The GVF's global VSAT Certification Program, which was cited recently in the SSPI's Industry Innovator awards ceremony,  is making vital inroads in the maritime satellite space.

In a previous column I noted the GVF VSAT installation training curriculum because it includes a focus on the deployment of systems used in the maritime environment, and would be included in one of the program sessions of the forthcoming GVF Broadband Maritime Europe conference in London on 28th and 29th June (www.uk-emp.co.uk/BMEu.Ldn.2010/).

The latest GVF/UK-EMP Conference Partnership event, the 3rd Annual Oil & Gas Communications Europe Conference: ‘Digital Applications & Communications Dynamics from the North Sea to the Arctic Ocean’, concluded on 13th May, with calls for the GVF-driven industry dialogue between the satellite and maritime/offshore sectors to continue to expand.

Over the last few years I have been devoting a not insignificant percentage of my work energies to activities linked to the offshore and maritime sectors – strategically important customers of satellite industry equipment vendors, service providers, and operators. If you are a regular reader of this column, you will know all about the GVF Oil & Gas Communications Europe event that is taking place in Aberdeen, Scotland, as I write; and, about the forthcoming Broadband Maritime Europe 2010 conference that will take place in London, England, 28-29 June.

At the 2010 NAB Show, World Teleport Association was co-producer of the Destination Broadband Theater in the Upper South Hall. In 16 panel sessions over three days, we focused on two closely-related topics: delivering and monetizing video content delivered over broadband, and how traditional television distribution is evolving in response to the broadband revolution.  

Much attention is being paid to consumer broadband service via satellite as this has the potential to match the US penetration of DTH TV and Satellite Radio (DARS). However, there is still a very substantial ongoing business using various types of VSATs to serve commercial and govern-ment needs in developed and developing regions of the world. After all, satellite communications is the best alternative if modern terrestrial infrastructure is not available.

The Connection is in the Satcoms. In my various recent columns in this space I have focused on important, and ongoing, key thematic developments in the communications solutions marketplace which are separately, and collectively, creating manifold expansion opportunities for the satellite communications industry to leverage the several advantages that it has over all other communications technologies and platforms. 

The issue of inadequate bandwidth in the world very small aperture terminal (VSAT) market has experienced a conflicting impact: a spurt in service revenues and, simultaneously, a dip in the sales of equipment or hardware. VSAT providers, while pleased with the hike in service revenues, are wary of pricing many potential, cost-sensitive VSAT users out of the market.