SkyREPORT.COM News Headlines
News Update For 12/9/99
DirecTV Looks For Strong Cash Flow
DirecTV chief financial officer Robert Myers said this week that the DBS provider should generate cash flow of $150 million in 1999 and around $300 million in 2000. Myers, speaking before a financial conference in New York, also said the company expects a 15 percent increase in subscribers in the markets where it will provide local TV channels. Executives with DirecTV, a unit of Hughes Electronics, shrugged off questions about a spin-off of the satellite giant by parent company General Motors. Earlier this week, GM executives discussed a possible spin-off of Hughes but no announcements were made after that meeting.
Interactive TV Aims For Billions By 2005
DirecTV Orders Spot-Beam Satellite
DirecTV ordered a new high-power spot beam satellite from its sister company, Hughes Space & Communications. The new bird, the fifth spacecraft Hughes Space and Communications has built for the DBS service, should help the company with its local-into-local plans and address the future implications of must-carry mandates that kick in Jan. 1, 2002. DirecTV said it expects to launch the new satellite, dubbed DirecTV-4S, in the fourth quarter of 2001. DirecTV-4S will be stationed with other DirecTV satellites at 101 degrees. It has a designed service life of approximately 15 years. A specific launch date for the satellite will be announced upon completion of negotiations with launch vehicle service providers.
Analysts Rate Globecomm a Buy
ING Barings said Wednesday that it initiated coverage of the satellite equipment company Globecomm Systems (Nasdaq:GCOM) with a buy rating. Analysts set the 12-month price target for Globecomm at $24 per share and said they expect growth of 40 to 80 percent as the company's Internet strategy accelerates. Shares in Globecomm were up $3.50 or more than 19 percent Wednesday, closing at $21.25
INTERNATIONAL: Interactive TV Goes North
- Shaw Invests in OpenTV - Shaw Communications, the Canadian cable and satellite television distributor, recently made a $5 million strategic investment in the California- based interactive television company OpenTV. Other OpenTV partners include EchoStar, America Online and General Instrument. Shaw will be in a position to begin trial deployment of OpenTV's digital interactive solution next year.
- Astra Gets Interactive Money Channel - Invest TV, the company launching the Simply Money consumer finance channel, has signed a 10-year contract with satellite operator Societe Europeenne des Satellites to provide a 24-hour-a-day digital broadcast service on the Astra Satellite System. The companies said Simply Money will be England's first interactive digital consumer finance channel.
- Space Imaging Snaps Middle East - Space Imaging has announced that a new regional affiliate, Space Imaging Middle East, has signed a contract for access to Earth imagery collected by the Ikonos satellite, which was launched in late September. The Middle Eastern affiliate, which is based in the United Arab Emirates, will sell high-resolution commercial satellite imagery of that area.
- International Datacasting Moves to Toronto Exchange - This week shares in International Datacasting, the Ottawa- based company that produces satellite communications products for Internet, Intranet, distance education, digital audio and multimedia networks, began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The stock was transferred from the Montreal Exchange.
- Latin American Fans Get Scottish Games - ESPN International has acquired the exclusive distribution rights in Latin America for a package of Scottish Premier League soccer matches.