SkyREPORT.COM News Headlines
News Update For 1/5/00
PanAmSat Ready For Another Launch
Less than two weeks after the successful launch of Galaxy XI from French Guiana, PanAmSat shipped its Galaxy XR satellite to Arianespace's Kourou launch facility on the South American coast and has begun final preparations for its lift-off. Galaxy XR's flight should take place later this month. A successful launch for Galaxy XR will bring the company's global fleet to 21 spacecraft. It's also the second of seven PanAmSat launches scheduled to take place by mid-2001. Galaxy XR will become the fifth satellite in the Galaxy cable neighborhood, which delivers television to virtually all of the 11,000 cable systems throughout the United States. The payload also will deliver Internet and telecommunications services throughout North America. Galaxy XR, a Hughes-built satellite with 24 C-Band and 24 Ku-Band transponders, will be located at 123 degrees. It will launch aboard an Ariane 4 vehicle.
Sirius Scores Kenwood Partnership
Sirius Satellite Radio is working with Kenwood, a leader in the car audio and mobile electronics industry, to develop Sirius-capable receivers. Kenwood and Sirius will partner in the design and development of receivers for installation by automotive manufacturers and for sale in the mobile electronics aftermarket. Kenwood has the second largest share of aftermarket car audio sales in the United States. Kenwood joins a group of seven automotive electronics manufacturers aligned with the future radio-satellite provider. They include Alpine, Clarion, Delphi Delco, Panasonic, Recoton and Visteon. On Tuesday, Sirius announced a partnership with Audiovox. Sirius also has an agreement to factory-install equipment in new Ford, Mazda, Jaguar and Volvo vehicles sold in the United States.
AOL TV May Make Appearance At CES
America Online may show set-top boxes and web terminals for its online service at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, according to CNET News.com AOL is developing interactive television services with DirecTV. Those offerings are expected to debut for consumers sometime this year. In addition to AOL TV, DirecTV and partners TiVo and Philips are expected to unveil a personal TV system capable of getting the DBS service.
Market Tumble Impacts Some In Satellite
Some satellite companies escaped Wall Street's tumble Tuesday, but others saw their stock price fall along with key market gauges. A day after hitting their 52-week highs, both EchoStar and Hughes Electronics fell in Tuesday's trading. Hughes, parent of DirecTV, dropped more than $4 to $97.74. DISH fell more than $2 to $92.25. Meanwhile, Pegasus dropped more than $7 to $87.94. British Sky Broadcasting climbed to $94, while Globalstar continued its gains, closing up $1 to $47.75. Loral gained more than a dollar, finishing at $22.12. On Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 359.58, or 3.2 percent, to 10,997.93, representing the fourth biggest point drop in its history. The Nasdaq composite plunged 229.46 points, or 5.6 percent, to 3,901.69. It was the biggest single-day point loss for that index.
COMP WATCH: GI Gets CableLabs Approval
- GI Receives CableLabs Approval - General Instrument announced that CableLabs certified its SURFboard SB100 high-speed cable modem. The technology, which is the second in a series to pass the CableLabs interoperability tests, has also received Excite@Home Level 2 approval.
- SkyStream, Lucent Integrate Products - SkyStream plans to work with Lucent Technologies to target digital cable and satellite service providers with their combined digital video networking solutions. The two companies recently completed product integration.
- Canal, MediaOne Develop New Platform - Canal Plus U.S. Technologies, a subsidiary of the Paris-based multichannel provider, is supporting MediaOne in the launch of a multi-vendor open system in Jacksonville, Fla. The system features a customized version of the MediaHighway open platform software, developed by Canal Plus U.S. Technologies, which enables applications written with the Java Programming Language to run on any two-way digital cable set-top box.
- EBU Increases Transmission Rate - The European Broadcasting Union, a collection of broadcasters from various countries, said recently that its Eurovision network had more than 100,000 separate transmissions since Jan. 1, 1999. That figure is nearly 15,000 transmissions higher than the previous year.