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Programming: Hot Times for Hulu; Al Jazeera in Canada & More
30 Nov 2009 - 12:29 by soullezz    Industry News |


• Thanks to the fall TV shows and the addition of ABC programming, Hulu spiked nearly 47% in October 2009 which represents the biggest single-month percentage gain in the past year. Backed by NBC, ABC and Fox, Hulu served more than 850 million video streams in October, up from 583 million in September.
• Al Jazeera Goes to Canada: The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission will soon be including Al Jazeera English on its digital Lists of Eligible Satellite Services. Adding the channel is a direct result of nearly 3,000 people submitting letters and e-mails requesting Canadian cable and satellite distributors to include AJE among their channel offerings.•



Christmas Wishes
30 Nov 2009 - 12:28 by soullezz    Industry News |

Another HD Christmas

Alert for retailers (not that you’ll be surprised): It looks like another HD Christmas as In-Stat tells us that HDTVs were ranked the most desired consumer electronic product (for the third year in a row). However, the researchers note, purchase intent has slipped somewhat. In-Stat says that consumer electronics continue to top consumer’s holiday wish lists with HDTVs, notebook PCs and digital cameras as the top three CEs.•

Black Friday Favors QVC

Black Friday was a very good day for QVC as the shopping service reported a 60% increase in sales during Black Friday compared to last year. The company clocked in more than $32 million in orders, selling more than 765,000 units within the 24-hour period. QVC says top sellers included the Sylvania Digital Camcorder with a 2" LCD color display, The Sharper Image entertainment projector and the Nintendo Wii gaming system with accessory case and games. (No reports available from HSN at publication time.)•


Satellites - Global Roundup
30 Nov 2009 - 12:26 by soullezz    Industry News |


Satellite services continue to gain momentum around the world via video, broadband and mobile services. In news from France, the Eutelsat Tooway Service was selected by SFR for its satellite broadband service. The ‘Satellite Internet Pack’ was launched last week on Eutelsat’s HOT BIRD 6 satellite and will be extended on Eutelsat’s KA-SAT satellite which will launch at the end of 2010.

In Kazakhstan, the ninth largest country in the world, SES World World Skies has received a 100 MHz contract from telecom operator Astel. The contract will provide internet access, email and VoIP telephony services to train passengers traveling on commuter trains in Kazakhstan.

And finally from Slovakia, telco T-Com says it has received more than 7,000 pre-registrations in the last month for its new DTH platform Magio. The new service will use DVB-S2 satellite technology and is expected to debut in the first quarter of 2010.•


As NBC-U Turns – Malone Roils the Waters
27 Nov 2009 - 17:11 by soullezz    Industry News |


According to Liberty Media Group’s John Malone the fate of NBC-U/Comcast deal will lies in the hands of the government and NBC-U affiliates. In his interview with CNBC's David Faber, Malone said beefing up content makes sense for Comcast, but only if the US government will allow it to use its resulting market power. NBC affiliates must also get on board with the deal – by no means a certainty if they believe that NBC-U broadcast programming might convert to an all-cable or hybrid business model.•



Programming: ESPN in Portuguese; Black Friday Basketball & More
27 Nov 2009 - 17:11 by soullezz    Industry News |


• ESPN To Air World Cup in Portuguese: ESPN is taking on Univision by broadcasting the 2010 FIFA World Cup in Portuguese on ESPN Deportes in the U.S. While Univision typically dominates the foreign-language ratings for the World Cup, ESPN is banking on Brazil, the largest Portuguese-speaking nation and a favorite to win the World Cup. ESPN paid $100 million for the U.S. rights to broadcast the 2010 and 2014 World Cup tournaments in all languages except Spanish.

• Black Friday Basketball: HDNet announced it will be airing exclusive, live coverage of the 2009 Legends Classic College Basketball Tournament this Friday and Saturday beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET. Michigan State, Rutgers, Florida and UMass are serving as the four Regional Round hosts for the event.

• That’s A lot of Bull: CMT will feature a one-hour special that follows eight up-and-coming professional bull riders as they compete for the PBR championship. The special, entitled POSSE: THE YOUNG GUNS OF PBR, will premiere on December 12 at 8:00 p.m. ET on CMT.

• Cancer Survivor Special: Fox will air a Thanksgiving Day TV special entitled “Kaleidoscope,” a tribute to cancer survival. The 90 minute show will feature the return to the ice of cancer survivors Scott Hamilton and Dorothy Hamill and a performance from Olivia Newton-John and David Foster who will perform "Hope is Always Here." The special will air on FOX on Thanksgiving day from 4:00-5:30 p.m. EST, immediately following the FOX Thanksgiving Day football telecast.

• Parle-vous francais? TV5MONDE USA, a 24-hour French language channel has debuted in Orlando, Fla via Brighthouse Digital Cable on Channel 653.•


Banking on Black Friday: Holiday Hopes & Outlooks
27 Nov 2009 - 17:10 by soullezz    Industry News |


Consumer confidence in consumer electronics has reached the highest level in history according to the CEA-CNET Index of Consumer Technology Expectations (ICTE). Plus the consumer electronics guys say, the CEA's recent 16th Annual CE Holiday Purchase Patterns Study shows that 80% of individuals want consumer electronics as a gift this holiday season. That's another high ... and one which CE retailers are eyeing hungrily.

Speaking of Black Friday, a shopping survey conducted by BIGresearch says that close to 134 million people could be out shopping this weekend – a big bump over the 128 million who planned to shop last year. The survey said 57 million are definitely planning to shop while another 77 million plan to wait and see what deals retailers offer. Additionally, one in ten (or 10.3%) will disrupt their sleeping patterns to camp out at stores between midnight and 3 a.m. Now that's seriously black. •


Satellite: They have the gall to call FTA'ers pirates!
21 Nov 2009 - 21:21 by soullezz    Industry News |

It seems that cable companies don't pay for signals that are broadcast. But charge their customers for them. And they have the gall to call FTA'ers pirates! Go figure.

(The Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission is continuing its hearings on whether cable companies should be required to pay Canadian TV broadcasters for the right to carry their signals.


Canadian cable and satellite companies have launched a misinformation campaign in a desperate attempt to continue profiting from something they get for free.

Here are the facts:

Cable and satellite charge customers for local television through your basic cable rates. They also charge customers for their specialty channels like CNN and the Food Network.

The difference? They pay the specialty channels for the privilege of selling their product, just like any business should. In fact, they send $300 million of their customers' money down to the U.S. specialty channels despite the fact that these channels produce no Canadian content and create no Canadian jobs.

However, they keep the entire amount they charge for local television.

We think that is unfair. It is particularly unfair when you consider the dire state of local television in comparison with cable's profits as the amount they charge customers for basic cable has risen by four times the rate of inflation over the past five years.

How did we get here? In the 1970s, the regulators agreed we should be paid for our product. But at the time, the fledgling cable companies needed help to build their systems and were allowed to keep what they collected for basic cable - which included local TV channels. Cable and satellite systems are now built and I don't know anyone who would say that cable is fledgling. Last year, the cable and satellite companies earned more than $2 billion in profits. Times have obviously changed and so should the rules.

The principal reason that local television is struggling in Canada is that it competes on an increasingly unlevel playing field. More and more channels are coming on, all of which are paid by cable to carry them and can sell advertising. Advertising remains our only source of revenue. Now choice is great, but so is fair competition.

Cable and satellite have resorted to saying almost anything to protect their subsidies and not pay for the local channels they carry. Here are some of the most popular claims.

Cable likes to say that they have given local broadcasters "billions" in the past 10 years. What they are talking about is the Canadian Media Fund. This is a requirement of the Canadian broadcasting regulations and the funds go to independent producers, not local broadcasters. Yes, we buy the great Canadian shows that produces. But so do specialty channels and so do the cable companies. As well, their own community channels even get a portion of this money. But make no mistake, none of that money comes to us.

And by the way, at Canwest alone, we are required to contribute $151 million of similar funding over and above what we spend to operate our stations. We all have to do our part in this regulated system.

They argue that we make money in other areas. Yes, we do. But the fact of the matter is local television in Canada is losing money. And no business should be forced to lose money in one area simply because it makes money in another. We do not have to be in conventional television to make money in newspapers or specialty channels. And while we are on profits, why should the extremely profitable cable companies be allowed to continue to profit off something they get for free and that is suffering?

They also like to cite the local programming improvement fund, or LPIF. This was set up just this year in recognition of the fact that local television is suffering. But this particular fund is a temporary measure and will be revisited next year. It is welcome, but it will not fix the very real problems we are facing and it is not a fair market value for our product.

Another favourite of theirs is that people could get our signal free over the air. Then why, I ask, are they charging their customers for it? A very small percentage of people still get their signals over the air. Really, the only people getting anything free here are the cable companies.

They say they distribute our product to their customers and so that should be enough. Yet, they do the same for all other channels and they pay them. They are distributors - carrying TV signals is their only job.

And last, but most certainly not least, they resort to threatening their customers. They threaten them with a "TV tax" of "$10 per month." If anything, this would be a "cable tax." They are taking a product they get for free, charging customers for it at ever-increasing rates, and making a substantial profit. And when we ask them to negotiate a fair market value for this profitable product, they want to charge their customers again and again. No, customers should not pay any more.

We need to find a way to ensure that local TV survives into the future and continues to provide Canadians with the local service and local news they want and deserve.

They say we are asking for a subsidy. Asking to be paid for your product is not a subsidy. No, the only ones getting a subsidy are cable companies. It is time to end cable's subsidy. It is time for them to pay their fair share for local television. And it is time they stopped threatening their customers.

MIke Woollatt is vice-president, government relations, for Canwest Broadcasting.
© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

To Launch (or Not)
18 Nov 2009 - 13:30 by soullezz    Industry News |


Arianespace is on track for its seventh Ariane 5 launch in 2009. The launch, of a French military reconnaissance satellite, is scheduled for Dec. 9. Meanwhile Intelsat-14 isn’t going anywhere ... not yet, anyway. The satellite, which was originally scheduled for launch last Saturday, has been hobbled by an electrical problem with the Atlas V rocket. No news yet on when the bird, designed to replace the aging Intelsat 1R, will fly.•




Consumers Spending More on Media
18 Nov 2009 - 13:29 by soullezz    Industry News |


We’re not out of the woods (not hardly) but at least consumers are shelling out more for media. According to research NPD, Americans are now spending around $115 per month per household on subscription media services. That’s up 7% from a year ago.

The exception to this rule is (no surprise here) print media which are down from last year. But on the upside are television, DVRs, satellite radio, subscription music, mobile phone data, internet access, online gaming plus Netflix and and the like.•




Conferencing by Satellite: A New Hot Spot?
17 Nov 2009 - 13:17 by soullezz    Industry News |


With the economy still sputtering, virtual meetings have become an increasingly big business. From large companies seeking to limit travel costs to hotels seeing to boost revenues, live, 2-way broadcasts from multiple locations are fast growing beyond the “novelty” stage. Now add another twist to the story with world-class broadcast satellite providing full virtual meeting capabilities from a restaurant chain.

A collaboration between The Capital Grille restaurant chain and ConneXion360 has launched virtual meeting capabilities connecting private dining rooms in all 40 Capital Grille locations. Said Capital Grille president John Martin, "With satellite broadcasting technology in all of our restaurants, we invite our guests to hold meetings or presentations in multiple cities at once, while enjoying our exceptional service, award-winning food and wine, and the comfortable surroundings of our private dining rooms."

No word on what the meetings might cost but, hey, it’s got to beat a bunch of plane and hotel expenses.




Hughes Says “Hey!” On National Broadband
17 Nov 2009 - 13:16 by soullezz    Industry News |


Having recently watched a five-hour long presentation to the FCC on broadband in which satellite was mentioned only three times (once to say how one participant DIDN'T use it), Hughes Network Systems is calling "hey!" on the national broadband issue. Not only do we have it right now, they note, but in the near future we will offer a new world of fiber-like satellite delivery.

To prove their point, the Hughes folks have set up a sat broadband demo at DC’s Mandarin Oriental Hotel, located conveniently close to the FCC. The demo, using capacity from Hughes' Spaceway 3, sets up what SVP of regulatory affairs Steve Doiron describes as, "A future consumer satellite home, which demonstrates what we believe will be typical applications two or three years after we launch Jupiter (Hughes' new mega-satellite) in 2012." Those applications including streaming HD (using a Netflix box purchased at Sam's Club), video conferencing at 1 Mbps, VoIP (via a Cisco IP phone), home browsing with multiple websites and the like.

At 100 Mbps, the Jupiter satellite will offer 10 times the capacity of Spaceway 3 and Doiron says, could serve "several million new customers." The open house demonstration runs through today (Nov. 17).•



Pure Speculation
16 Nov 2009 - 14:31 by soullezz    Industry News |


'Tis the season of mammoth mergers with the big guys flinging their money hither and yon in the quest to become even bigger. In the spirit of such things ... and in the light of the ailing Motorola's need to somehow, anyhow, stop its long slide ... I have a suggestion:

Being as Motorola is apparently shopping its home and networks mobility division ...

Being as Charlie Ergen's EchoStar is determinedly seeking an entrance to the cable set-top-box world for its Sling Technology ...

Being that the cable guys aren't exactly welcoming EchoStar with open arms ...

Why doesn't Charlie buy Motorola's STB division?

Of course, Charlie wouldn't pay anything close to the $4.5 billion that the Wall Street Journal says Motorola wants for the business. But it's pretty certain that no one else will either. And seeing as Motorola's dismal results of late come (at least in part) from its rather large techno-gap, Charlie's SlingBox might be exactly what's needed.

Besides, Charlie likes to gamble ... and Charlie likes a challenge ... and Charlie certainly isn't adverse to bulling his way into businesses, so, hey, why not?

Kudelski Gets OpenTV; BSkyB Gets Targeted; Flo TVs at Retail
16 Nov 2009 - 14:27 by soullezz    Industry News |


• The Kudelski Group has successfully completed its tender offer to acquire OpenTV Corp’s Class A shares. The company acquired 60% of the shares it didn’t already own when the offer expired on November 12. Kudelski opened another offer to gain the remaining shares. That offer will expire on November 20 at 5:00 p.m. ET.
• BSkyB plans to introduce targeted advertising on its broadband-based TV outlet Sky Player sometime after the first of the year. Using AdSmart technology, Sky will focus on such factors as postal codes or TV package selection, in order to deliver the targeted ads. Customers may opt out of the system and the ads will appear only on on demand content.
• Consumers can now purchase handheld FLO TV Personal TVs at local retail stores such as Best Buy and Radio Shack as well as online on Amazon.com. As part of the launch, FLO TV’s first six months of subscription service will be bundled into the overall retail price of $249.99.



Boeing to Dump Sea Launch?
16 Nov 2009 - 14:27 by soullezz    Industry News |


In yet another blow to the troubled launch company, Boeing is apparently preparing to dump its 40% stake in Sea Launch. Speaking to the LA Times, Sea Launch president Kjell Karlsen said, "I would like to see Boeing being part of the new Sea Launch, but it's more likely they will work in a supplier capacity and not in an ownership role."

Having never quite recovered from a Jan. 2007 rocket explosion, Sea Launch is currently reorganizing under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company filed for protection in June after losing an arbitration battle with Hughes Network Systems.

DIRECTV CEO, Meeting & More
15 Nov 2009 - 14:01 by soullezz    Industry News |


• That long awaited DIRECTV CEO might be on the horizon. Speaking at the Media and Money Conference in New York, Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei said an announcement should be coming in the next few weeks. But don't expect Maffei's name in the press release. Said he, "I have a job I like, and I'm probably going to stick with it."
• Speaking of Liberty, the company will hold a special stockholder meeting to discuss the DIRECTV split-off on November 19, 2009 at 9:30 a.m. ET. For more information visit http://www.mediafinance.org/index.aspx?PageID=454br>• Jaya TV, a Tamil channel from India, will be available exclusively to DISH Network subs in the US. The channel will be aired on 792 and carry such shows as: “Jack Pot,” “Makkal Arangam” and “Thaka Thimi Tha.”
• RRsat reported strong numbers for its 3Q09 report with a 20% revenue growth totaling $24.1 million. Net income was $2.9 million; adjusted net income was $3.8 million. The company also announced it acquired 18 new contracts in the quarter.
• Austrian broadcaster kaernten.tv will add satellite distribution to its streaming internet presence. Additionally, RTV Salzburg will begin broadcasting from the Astra satellite next month.•



Welcome Back, Eddy
14 Nov 2009 - 12:42 by soullezz    Industry News |


Well, sort of .... Eddy Hartenstein, the guy who essentially created DIRECTV and ran it until its late 2003 take-over by News Corp, is stepping up his visibility in the satellite industry. This time, he's taking on the troubled waters of SIRIUS XM as non-executive chairman, replacing Gary Parsons. Prior to the satellite radio merger, Hartenstein was board member of XM; he became a director of SIRIUS XM in the summer of 2008.

Never one to decline a challenge, Hartenstein is currently Publisher and CEO of the Los Angeles Times. Fortunately, SIRIUS XM is in slightly better shape than the newspaper industry. The company lost $149.2 million, or 4 cents a share, on revenue of $618.7 million in the latest quarter but it also added 102,295 subscribers. That's first uptick in sat radio subs since last December. Earlier this year Liberty Media took a 40% stake in the company, saving it from a possible bankruptcy filing.•



Discovery Adds Science Site
11 Nov 2009 - 12:55 by soullezz    Industry News |


Discovery Communications has launched a new web site dedicated to science and technology news. This site comes in response to mainstream media outlets reducing their science and technology coverage and employs 25 journalists located around the world.•


Anik F1 Lives; DISH Wants "Everywhere"; SIRIUS Plans Launch & More
11 Nov 2009 - 12:54 by soullezz    Industry News |


• Telesat of Canada says its Anik F1 satellite will continue operating until 2016, its contracted retirement date, despite numerous legal issues with Boeing and insurance underwriters. This announcement comes after the company reported an increase in revenue and operating profit for the 3Q09.
• You want "TV Everywhere?" DISH says its already got that via its remote DVR features via Sling Media. And just to rub that in, DISH has filed for trademark protection on the “TV Everywhere” moniker.
• International Launch Services and SIRIUS XM Radio are partnering together to launch the XM-5 satellite in 2010. This will be the 5th ILS Proton launch for the SIRIUS radio fleet. The 6,000 satellite will be located at 85 degrees West.
• C-COM Satellite Systems has penned a deal with Telspazio Argentina. Leslie Klein, President and CEO of C-COM Satellite Systems Inc noted, “We are pleased to have been selected by Telespazio to be their mobile satellite antenna supplier and look forward to working with them to deliver iNetVu broadband solutions to their extensive customer base in South America as well as in other parts of the world.”
• MYtv has selected Intelsat for a multi-year capacity contract to deliver its DTH platform to subs throughout the Ukraine. MYtv’s capacity will be over the Thor 6 satellite and will offers its subs more than 80 channels of programming.
• Inmarsat showed an 8.7% increase in revenue for 3Q09, with revenues totaling $176.7 million. The company’s EBITDA increased 18.4% to $133 million and its profits after tax totaled $50.2 million.•


Intelsat Transponder Services Deliver Revenue Increase in Third Quarter
10 Nov 2009 - 13:25 by soullezz    Industry News |


[Satellite TODAY 11-10-09] Intelsat saw its 2009 third quarter revenues increase $19.4 million to $617.9 million, up from $598.5 million in 2008, the operator announced in its financial results, released Nov. 9.

Intelsat transponder service revenues increased $25.7 million, due primarily to a $19.4 million increase in revenue from network services customers and renewals in the Latin American, Caribbean, European, African and Middle East regions. The company’s managed services business increased its revenues $3.9 million due to business and service expansion in trunking, private line and GXS broadband solutions in Africa and the Middle East. Intelsat General reported a $13.1 million increase in revenues resulting from new services and strong renewals sold primarily to North American customers.

The company saw its broadcast channel and mobile satellite service revenues decrease $3.1 million and $7.1 million, respectively, due to continued declines from the migration of point-to-point satellite traffic to transoceanic fiber optic cables and decreased sales of professional and technical services performed for satellite operators and third-party usage-based mobile services. The company said it expects these trends to continue.

Intelsat’s loss on derivative financial instruments increased by $2.2 million in the third quarter to $38.8 million compared to 2008. The company’s overall net loss for the quarter was $94.3 million, bringing its 2009 net loss total to $684.7 for the first three quarters.

“Our third quarter financial performance reflects continuing solid demand for services across our global satellite fleet and ground network as well as the success of our capacity management program. By executing on this strategic objective, we have boosted our capacity utilization to 85 percent and improved our returns on our network investments. We will opportunistically supplement our capacity with modest investments in order to support customer growth and to increase the resilience of our fleet,” Intelsat CEO Dave McGlade said in a statement.


EchoStar Makes European IPTV Push With Latens Technology Integration
10 Nov 2009 - 01:12 by soullezz    Industry News |


EchoStar Europe has integrated a card-less conditional access and middleware solution from Latens with its hybrid HDX-600 platform to create a solution for IPTV and broadband TV operators, EchoStar Europe announced Nov. 9.

Latens will provide EchoStar with its ECO middleware platform solution equipped with pre-integrated conditional access software. EchoStar’s HDX-600 supports AVC to reduce bandwidth requirements for video-based services. The integrated solution aims to deliver an upgraded HDX-600 platform for delivering secure, interactive IP-based television services and applications including video-on-demand.

EchoStar Europe hinted that the Latens integration is the first of a series of planned IP-centered integrations. “In order to support our strategy in Europe, it is imperative that we partner with a number of the industry’s leading conditional access and middleware solutions. This is one of our first planned integrations in the IP space and provides a middleware and [conditional access] platform for adaptation and deployment by IPTV and hybrid IPTV operators,” EchoStar spokesman Rick Smith said in a statement.

TDG Offers Up His Son As The Guilty Party
9 Nov 2009 - 17:46 by soullezz    Industry News |
TDG tries to pass the buck in court...

WARD also testified that he and his son, William, operate a legal E-Bay business from that address with an associated PayPal account. See Franks Decl. (Doc. 59-2) Ward Depo., pp. 20-22; p. 29, Lines 4-22. The E-Bay and PayPal account had an e-mail address of "DSSguy@gmail.com" which was accessible to William.

A reasonable person might conclude that any of those persons had access to WARD’S computers and therefore his e-mail addresses and online personas.

A reasonable person could infer that of the people living with WARD, William certainly had access to WARD’S computers, his e-mail addresses and E-Bay account and thus, could have sent the offending piracy software in messages and posted on the Internet as well as selling DISH Network-related products using the E-Bay account and WARD’S monikers.

Sky Italia Soccer Broadcast Rights Blocked
6 Nov 2009 - 15:27 by soullezz    Industry News |


Will there be yet another round in the Murdoch vs Berlusconi match? A Milan appeals court blocked the awarding of broadcast rights for football (soccer) matches the next two seasons to Sky Italia, which is a unit of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. Italy's football association, Lega Calcio, had awarded six exclusive packages of broadcast rights to Serie A's matches called "A Platinum Live" for the 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 seasons in July. On Wednesday Lega Calcio released a statement saying that it was surprised by the Corte d'Appello di Milano ruling and has plans to appeal. The award of the package is believed to have netted the league some $1.709 billion.

In other Sky Italia news, it has a reported $37 million decrease in revenues, as elevated programming costs brought the operating income to only $128 million. Subscriber numbers remained stable for the second consecutive quarter of this year at 4.8 million.


Eutelsat Revenue Growth; NSR Tops 114mil DTH Subs; Globalstar completes construction; HBP Asia deal with Telesat
6 Nov 2009 - 15:21 by soullezz    Industry News |


Eutelsat’s revenues grew by more than 11.6%, totaling €226.7 million for the third quarter. The operator now broadcasts over 3,000 channels inlcuding over 100 in HD throughout Europe, Russia and the Middle East.

NSR reports that nearly 100 Direct-to-Home (DTH) platforms were broadcasting over 13,000 TV channels to more than 114 million subs at the end of 2008, bringing an estimated $65 billion in revenues for that sector. Additionally, subscribers have increasing access to HD channels, DVRs and VOD services.

Globalstar Inc has completed construction of the new gateway ground station in Nigeria. The gateway will provide satellite coverage to Nigeria, parts of Western and Central Africa and the coastal Atlantic and Gulf of Guinea region.

HBO Asia has penned a multi-year deal with Telesat which allows HBO Asia to distribute HDTV to Telesat's customers via Telstar 18.




Revenues up for DirecTV
6 Nov 2009 - 15:14 by soullezz    Industry News |
DIRECTV came out of the third quarter like a lion on the cash flow front, with free cash flow up by 94% to a new record of $643 million. Revenue growth was also firm and on that always-critical subscriber gain index DIRECTV made a net increase of 136,000 in the U.S. and 162,000 in its Latin American division.

Interim CEO Larry Hunter attributed the U.S. growth primarily to the marketing partnership with AT&T plus record breaking demand for HD and DVR services. Hunter additionally accorded that two-thirds of all new subs in the quarter signed up for one or both of those services.

TV to GPS
3 Nov 2009 - 14:37 by soullezz    Industry News |

Over-the-Top TV for $30/month?

That's Apple's (return, but better) pitch to networks ... with some 65 million iTunes users, this represents the first mass market attempt to replicate a cable-like subscription service to mainstream network programming. No bites yet; but the betting is Disney will at least listen closely to its largest shareholder and "experiment."• - PSM

Mixed Results for DISH vs TiVo

The U.S. Court of Appeals gave DISH and EchoStar a bit of potential wiggle room on Monday as one judge said that some parts of the two companies’ DVRs did not infringe on TiVO patents. However, the three judge panel also questioned whether EchoStar and DISH waited too long to challenge a trial judge’s order to disable the set-top box functionality in their set-top boxes. The panel did not say when it will rule in the case.•

GPS: Headaches for Garmin

Google’s plans to enter the navigation race is casting a long, long shadow over the existing GPS market. The most recent victim is Garmin as industry analysts have begun to throw cold water over what was expected to be a strong third quarter. Noted Oppenheimer & Co analyst Yair Reiner, "We have tended to think that mobile navigation applications would only gradually nibble away at the addressable market for PNDs, but the Google product and price-point suggests the nibble could be more like a gulp."•




SkyLog: SBCA SkyFORUM; KVH, Sirius Add Products; Iridium Board
3 Nov 2009 - 14:34 by soullezz    Industry News |


• SBCA will be hosting its SkyFORUM on Wednesday, November 18, 2009 from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. ET. The conference is free of charge and all participants need is a computer and a broadband connection. Two of the Keynote speakers include: Blair Levin, Executive Director - Broadband Initiative, FCC, as well as Tony Goncalves, Vice President of Sales, DIRECTV. For more information visit www.skyforumsbca.com.
• KVH Industries unveiled its new TracVision HD7 satellite system at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show and will be offering interested customers discounts, cash back and free accessories for those who purchase the TracVision HD7, other TracVision satellite TV systems or a TracPhone satellite communications system through the end of 2009.
• SIRIUS XM Radio unveiled its XM SkyDock, the first satellite radio which can be controlled by an iPod or iPhone. Subs can gain access to the "Best of SIRIUS" programming package anywhere they drive while the dock charges the iPod touch or iPhone devices while listening to satellite radio.
• Iridium Communications Inc. has named a new member to its Board of Directors. Peter M. Dawkins, founder of ShiningStar Capital LCC and a retired Brigadier General, will be the tenth member on Iridium’s board. Prior to working for his current firm, Gen. Dawkins was vice chairman of global wealth management for Citigroup.•



Crystal Ball on DISH, DIRECTV
3 Nov 2009 - 14:30 by soullezz    Industry News |


It’s crystal ball season on Wall Street as analysts cast their best bets on upcoming third quarter results. Monday’s round of forecasts looked relatively positive for the satellite sector as Merrill Lynch analyst Jessica Reif Cohen bumped her rating on DISH to Neutral from Underperform. Reif Cohen cited signs that the business is beginning to stabilize plus churn improvement for her boost to DISH. DISH reports its results on Monday, Nov. 9.

Meanwhile Kaufman Bros. reiterated its Buy on DIRECTV on expectations of solid quarterly results. DIRECTV reports this Thursday.•



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