News and Notes of Interest to the Satellite Community

News and Notes of Interest to the Satellite Community

One of the trends I’ve seen over the last decade is a “winners and losers” environment when it comes to standard plan C-band satellites, especially over North America.

A quick review of the Broadcast Industry and its use of Satellite technology suggest some very interesting information. Prior to the use of satellite, video images shot on site needed to be put on tape and hand delivered to a studio for editing and broadcast. While this provides a secure delivery method, it could prove to be a very lengthy process, making the event being covered less than "current". As all agencies were in the same position, the public was used to this obscene delay, and it was considered a normal course of events (<em>e.g.</em> during World War 1, stories were often submitted by Post).

There are several primary applications for SATCOM HPAs and BUCs. These include the Internet, <em>Digital Satellite Newsgathering</em> (DSNG), mobile communications, maritime VSATs and offshore energy, <em>Direct-To-Home</em> (DTH) television and military communications (MILSATCOM).

An increased need for satellite transponder bandwidth is being driven by greater use of Full-Motion Video (FMV) gathered by Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) systems collecting mosaic wide area imagery are accelerating the pace at which bandwidth is required.

Tore Morten Olsen has 17 years of experience in the satellite communications sector working for Telenor and Vizada. He started in 1994 as a Technical Product Manager and moved into the commercial field responsible for the governmental market sector in 1997.

Year on year we are noting greater proliferation and diversification in the satellite market. The only thing we can be sure of is that there is constant evolution in the way satellites are being used. In addition to the ‘traditional’ applications—if we can talk about practices that are only a few years old as traditional—there are newer ways of using satellite capacity that reflect the massive expansion in mobility, in professional and consumer domains.

Today, consumers are faced with many ways of accessing and watching television programs. Whether via a television set, PC, mobile or tablet device, the change in habits and the audiences’ desire to watch what they like, when and where they like, is an area that has involved much discussion. These developments pose many challenges for sports broadcasters as they look to meet customer demand, stay ahead of competitors, and retain audience share. In sports, more than any other genre, new technologies are in great demand, but there is still a need for traditional delivery methods.

The ever-shortening design and development timeframes and budgets of modern space programs demand correct-first-time engineering. High quality, goal-focused, time and cost-efficient vibration testing is critical to meeting programme milestones. RAL Space’s contribution to the new James Webb Space Telescope required a new vibration test system—they selected to stay with the LDS range of shakers.

David Ball has 25 years of experience in the telecommunications, media and technology sectors with a significant portion of his career specialising in satellite communications. David has held senior positions encompassing sales team management, product development, engineering and space systems development. Prior to joining NewSat, David was the Regional Vice President Asia-Pacific for Intelsat and also held that position for PanAmSat prior to the merger between PanAmSat and Intelsat in 2006. More recently, David was the Managing Director for Intelsat Broadband Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Intelsat Corporation.

Increased flexibility, optimized remote monitoring and configuration, cost-effectiveness, and reduced concatenation make real-time IP encoding over satellite the ideal method for news and sports applications.

The rural cellular market in emerging countries has changed significantly in the past couple of years. Newer usages and technologies have helped reshape the landscape. Social networking, smart and feature phones, sophisticated voice and data plans have all fueled the uptake of mobile communications and further reinforced the need for high data traffic.

Dr. Amiee Chan has more than 15 years of experience in executive management and research and development in the telecommunications industry. Offering a rare blend of technical and corporate strength, Dr. Chan’s strategic vision has driven Norsat’s innovative product development program and has resulted in consistent revenue growth since her appointment as the CEO in 2006. In 2012

What if more than the lights went out during the Super Bowl? Imagine sitting at home and losing the audio of the broadcast and missing the ref’s call... or, what about watching video that is so jumbled that the longest kick return in history is totally missed? You would have some unhappy customers and, no doubt, you would hear about it. Unfortunately, these things happen all the time. In today’s highly competitive broadcast video marketplace, delivery of error free content is key to retaining your customer base.

As a long time dog owner, I have found there is nothing more loyal than your dog who welcomes you with unconditional love when you arrive home from work. On the other hand, there is nothing more terrifying and upsetting than someone else’s dog in your neighborhood that is loose, aggressive and capable of injuring you or your family.

Change is constant in successful businesses—they continuously invest in new systems, sales programs and other efforts to maintain a competitive edge. However, it’s folly to expect success by pushing out new systems and programs to the employees on the front lines with nothing more than an email notification.

ach spring, the Space Foundation’s National Space Symposium is offered in conjunction with a separate Space Foundation cyber conference. Cyber 1.3 is a full-day event taking place on April 8th at The Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colorado, immediately preceding the opening ceremony of the 29th National Space Symposium.

As the world becomes a smaller place and people move from one end of the Earth to the other, broadcasters are realizing new opportunities. In the Diaspora World people may be far from each other physically, but they are never far from enjoying each other’s experiences, lives and feelings. A sense of unity, in spite of the scattering of peoples across the globe, is enabled through the streams of information and entertainment produced by broadcasters, linking all to their homelands and their sense of “oneness.”

Deep underneath the QianDao Lake in Zhejiang province of China rests the thousand-year-old ‘Lion City’. This ancient site was submerged half a century ago to build a reservoir that later became a hydropower station.

Broadcasters and payTV service providers are seeking to exploit the potential of convergence and are increasingly focusing on multiscreen delivery, enabling content to be enjoyed everywhere and on any device.

For the first time in broadcasting history, the acquisition of content is no longer a major technical challenge. Satellites, microwaves, fiber and high-speed Internet connectivity put crews on the scene quickly, transmitting back to the facility repeatedly during the day from diverse locations. Compared to only a few years ago, the amount of content that now arrives at a facility is staggering. The number of times that content is repurposed continues to grow at an exponential rate as additional formats and platforms emerge and are monetized.

Word is on the street, and DPs and customers have been notified. A new, second round of Inmarsat price increases arrived on March 1st (in addition to the increases imposed by the Company last May) and they are expected to hit low volume users especially hard, providing new opportunities for competitive technologies and vendors.

Please click on our advertising sponsors to be directed to the story in which their message and Web site link appear.