- - - NBC/DirecTV Deal Expands Olympics On TV - - -

The recently-announced NBC/DirecTV deal will enable DirecTV subscribers to watch 250 more hours of Olympics coverage than viewers who only have access to NBC coverage of the games.

The long-term agreement enables DirecTV to continue carrying NBC's two cable channels - CNBC and MSNBC. NBC spokesman Jeffrey DeMarrais said Monday that the regular network airs roughly 170 hours of the Olympics while the two cable channels carry 250 additional hours. "It's going to be wall to wall coverage," he said.

Stephanie Campbell, DirecTV's senior vice president for programming, said, "CNBC and MSNBC are highly popular services among DirecTV customers ... The Olympics programming package available on these services will be a new and exciting complement to our sports programming."

NBC has not announced similar agreements with other satellite television providers. The only other deal like this that the network has announced was with AT&T Broadband & Internet Services, which included retransmission consent for NBC-own television station.

- - - GLA Completes Brazilian Purchase - - -

Three Latin American satellite television providers announced Friday that they have completed the sale of Galaxy Brasil by TEVECAP (TVA) to Galaxy Latin America.

Galaxy Latin America (GLA) is the provider of DirecTV service in Latin America. TVA is one of the founding members of GLA and a major Brazilian pay-television provider. Galaxy Brasil is the exclusive distributor of DirecTV DTH service in Brazil.

In addition to the completion of this deal, TVA also sold a 10 percent equity interest in GLA to the two remaining GLA members, Hughes Electronics and the Cisneros Group. These transactions were approved by the Brazilian National Agency for Telecommunication on July 16.

Roberto Civita, chairman of TVA and Abril said, "Everyone wins with this sale. TVA has now been financially restructured and can now expand its cable and MMDS businesses ... At the same time, GLA will now be able to expand its satellite business in Brazil."

And GLA Chairman Kevin McGrath said, "For GLA, Brazil is the largest potential market and we are all committed to making the Brazilian operation a great success."

- - - Russia Still Needs Baikonur Cosmodrome - - -

Russia cannot afford to give up space launches at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakstan for at least a decade, the head of Russia's space agency said Saturday.

Yuri Koptev, in comments reported by ITAR-Tass news agency, was apparently trying to quell Russian calls to find an alternative site for launching rockets carrying satellites. The requests followed the July 6 explosion of a Proton booster rocket carrying a Russian military satellite, which led Kazakstan to ban all launches from Baikonur.

The launching site was built when Kazakstan was still part of the Soviet Union. Now Russia has to rent the cosmodrome, and relies heavily on it for launches to the Mir and for sending commercial and military satellites into space.

Russia does have has its own launch site: The Plesetsk cosmodrome, about 312 miles below the Arctic Circle in northwestern Russia. It is used mostly for military satellite launches. But Koptev said Plesetsk has a drawback because of location on a northern latitude dictates that spacecraft launched from there can carry less cargo.

- - - TECH: - - -

• RS&I Completes Golden Sky Agreement -
  Idaho-based RS&I Security has completed its arrangement with Golden Sky Systems to process PrimeStar conversions in Golden Sky territories. The company reports that it is currently in conversations with all other affiliates of the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative and expects to be able to open up the conversion process throughout the Western United States in the near future. RS&I, a company that helps security dealers enhance their business, also runs ProNet, an online service that allows customers to access information about its Protection One service.

• DigitalXpress Picks Ups Business Speakers -
  DigitalXpress, a St. Paul-based provider of satellite communications services, has announced that it struck a deal with WYNCOM, a Kentucky-based marketing and communications company, to broadcast three live presentations this summer from the "Lessons in Leadership" Distinguished Speakers Series organized by WYNCOM. The series, which will be to DigitalXress customers as pay-per-view events, will featured Stephen Covey, author of "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" on July 30. Coming up are authors Robert Cooper and Tom Peters. To register for the events, DigitalXpress customers should complete an online registration.

• ORBCOMM, Echo Flight Introduce Weather Service -
  ORBCOMM Global, a provider of low-Earth orbit satellite data and messaging services, and Echo Flight, a provider of mobile communications for the aviation industry, recently announced the introduction of a satellite-based weather service for general aviation pilots. The service, which can be outfitted for any mobile vehicle in the aviation, marine or terrestrial transportation industries, will provide hourly NEXRAD images to pilots flying across the contiguous 48 station and several hundred miles off both coasts.

• M&C Systems Receives ISO 9001 Certification -
  M&C Systems, a developer of automated satellite communications monitor and control software, has received ISO 9001 certification from the Bureau Verita Quality International, an International Organization of Standards auditor. The ISO 9001 certification indicates that M&C was able to meet strict requirements for quality production, service, installation and maintenance of its products.