EchoStar won a Federal Communications Commission ruling that alleged Fox/Liberty violated the agency's program access rules for refusing to sell the FX network to the service.
With its decision, the FCC affirmed its view that cable operators and others may not keep programming
exclusive. EchoStar has claimed that cable was keeping programming in order to gain a competitive
advantage over satellite services. As part of its decision, the FCC ordered Fox/Liberty to sell the FX
network to EchoStar within the next 45 days.
FutureTrak Distributes Marine Solution For Canadian DBS-FutureTrak International became the first
company to offer the Canadian marine and mobile markets access to the country's two DBS providers -
ExpressVu and Star Choice. The company's Space Scanner system can track and receive programming
offered by both services. Jonic International, the largest retail distributor of ExpressVu with more than
1,500 outlets, will be the initial distributor of the FutureTrak line.
Loral Skynet said its digital satellite news gathering trials, held in collaboration with the ABC network
and affiliates, concluded successfully. The new DSNG package, available for full-time use in June, will use
an open network standard enabling broadcasters, affiliates and indepen-dent news providers to transmit up
to 12 times more simultaneous feeds on a single transponder than has been possible previously using
standard analog transmissions.
Indian Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj has called for a complete ban of "immoral" on-air advertisements for such products as alcohol and cigarettes.
Swaraj's threatened ban of "unacceptable" advertisements has caused concern amongst the Indian satellite and multichannel com-munity because liquor and tobacco endorsement tends to bring in the greatest revenues. According to industry estimates, STAR TV network alone stands to lose nearly $4 million a year if the ban is enforced.
Satellite providers say that because their programming is transmitted to many different countries, each with different regulations, Swaraj's proposed ban would be difficult to implement.
Swaraj has also indicated that she would like to see changes made to the existing board of the
Broadcasting Corporation of India; this corporation currently allows the state-run Doordarshan television
network to operate autonomously.
Hughes unveiled a new digital satellite broadcast system for transmitting real-time video or digital data to subscribers in the United States, Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.
The service, called SkyMedia, received its first contract from the Social Security Administration to broadcast its Interactive Video Teletraining Network. The $10.6 million contract awarded to Hughes is part of a contract awarded to EDS, the prime contractor on the project.
Hughes Global is part of the Hughes Space and Communications division of Hughes Electronics.
Services include MPEG2 video, data and Internet broadcast. SkyMedia also is compliant with digital-video-
broadcast standards.
DirecTV teamed up with two wireless companies in an effort to deliver programming to multiple- dwelling units and single family homes.
Cleveland-based wireless tele-vision operator Popvision wired the 1,077-unit Gates Mills Towers apartment community to deliver the DSS service. Located in Mayfield Heights, Ohio, Gates Mills Towers is the largest apartment community in the country to offer access to DirecTV.
Popvision is introducing DirecTV to the Cleveland-area MDU market. DirecTV programming will comple-ment Popvision's 41 channels, which include local broadcast channels, and will be available to residents who rent a DSS receiver from Popvision.
Popvision is a division of CS Wireless, which is part of a nationwide network of independent DirecTV system operators that serve the MDU market.
Heartland Communications, the nation's largest wireless cable company, will offer DirecTV to single family homes in the markets it serves. Heartland will provide its local signals in combination with DirecTV, offering consumers a superior alternative to the local cable provider in small to mid-sized markets.
In November last year, DirecTV and Heartland signed a cooperative marketing agreement to sell digital
satellite television service to the multiple-family dwelling unit market.
DBS providers are urging the FCC to maintain flexibility in deciding ownership issues that could impact their business.
"Cross ownership restrictions are not necessary and such issues should be addressed on a case-by- case basis," said U.S. Satellite Broad-casting in its filing. DirecTv said the FCC should continue the flexibility that has been a hallmark of its approach to DBS regulation, which the company said has helped the industry to offer more choices to customers.
Primestar sided with statements last month by commissioners Harold Furchgott-Roth and Michael Powell in urging that "it is clearly preferable to consider DBS ownership issues, and particularly cable-DBS cross-ownership issues, in the context of specific ownership proposals, rather than through the adoption of a general rule."
The company urged the FCC to resist adopting cable cross-ownership prohibitions because they would
be inconsistent with the public interest and waste the commission's resources.
The Galaxy VIII-i satellite, launched by Hughes in December 1997, has commenced commercial transmissions for Galaxy Latin America's DirecTV service in Latin America.
The bird becomes the dedicated satellite platform for the DirecTV service in Latin America. As a result, PanAmSat will dedicate capacity on Galaxy III-R for special program-ming in the United States for the domestic DirecTV service.
Galaxy VIII-i is co-located with the Galaxy III-R satellite.
Galaxy VIII-i provides DirecTV Latin America with the capability to offer more than 300 channels to subscribers in Latin America and the Caribbean. GLA will also be able to offer data services currently being developed, expanded coverage to more remote areas and improved signal reception.
Eventually, PanAmSat will start providing Ku-Band capacity on the Galaxy III-R satellite for DirecTV
in the United States. Galaxy III-R, also built by Hughes, was launched in December 1995 and contains 24
C-Band and 24 Ku-Band transponders. DirecTV plans to use multiple Ku-Band transponders to expand its
programming lineup further in the United States with special interest programming that will include ethnic
programming, niche programs, future business-to-business applications and high definition television
programming.
A classified Pentagon report concluded that scientists from Hughes Electronics and Loral Space & Communications allegedly turned over expertise to China that significantly improved the reliability of China's nuclear missiles, the New York Times reported Monday.
It's another development in the secret, unfolding federal investigation.
The aerospace experts from the two companies turned over the information as part of their investigation of a Feb. 16, 1996, crash of a Chinese rocket Loral had contracted for the launch of a $200 million satellite, the Times said. In addition to identifying the cause of the crash - said to be an electrical flaw in the electronic flight-control system -the 200-page accident assessment also discussed other sensitive aspects of the rocket's guidance and control systems, an area of weakness in China's missile programs.
The May 1997 report concluded that "United States national security has been harmed." The report, whose existence has been secret, prompted a criminal investigation of the companies, the Times said, citing unnamed officials.
The companies told the Times their employees acted properly but they declined to discuss the matter.
Criminal charges are unlikely to be brought, however, largely because the investigation was undermined
this year when President Clinton approved Loral's export to China of the same information about guidance
systems, the Times said.
Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal invested $200 million in Teledesic, giving him a 16 percent stake in the satellite venture backed by billionaires Bill Gates and Craig McCaw.
Prince Alwaleed, nephew of Saudi King Fahd and one of the richest men in the world, signed the deal Monday at a ceremony in Los Angeles with McCaw, Teledesic's chairman and co-chief executive.
Teledesic is scheduled to go into operation in 2002 with a network of 288 satellites in low-Earth orbit
providing high-speed data connections. With the investment, the prince becomes the third-biggest
stakeholder in the privately held company, behind Gates, chairman of Microsoft, and McCaw, who each
hold 30 percent.
DigitalXpress and a member of its satellite-based network, TEN-TV (the Technology Education Network), will broadcast a series of computer programming courses offered by Prentice Hall Professional Technical Resource Interactive and the University of Washington.
The series will be broadcast exclusively over the DigitalXpress network as a pay-per-view course. It is being offered to current TEN-TV subscribers, but also is open to new subscribers. All courses continue through October.
Each course consists of four weekly lectures delivered by University of Washington faculty via TEN-TV
and DigitalXpress. After each lecture, the instructor will host a live question-and-answer session. During
the course, students will have access to a Web-based "virtual study lounge," where they can collaborate with
classmates. Courses are supplemented with textbooks and CD-ROMs developed by Prentice Hall.
Telesat Canada last week authorized construction on its new satellite, the world's most powerful commercial bird according to manufacturer Hughes Space and Communications International.
Anik F1 is expected for delivery and launch in 2000. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The satellite will carry 84 active transponders that will cover North and South America from Telesat's operating slot at 107.3 degrees.
Anik F1 brings new orders for Hughes satellites in the first quarter of 1998 to more than $1 billion, said
Steven D. Dorfman, vice chairman of Hughes Electronics Corp. Anik F1 will be the ninth satellite
developed by Hughes for Telesat, Canada's national satellite communications company based in Gloucester,
Ontario.
PrimeStar Partners began its first day as a nationally-focused company by positioning itself for a limited high-power launch and possible spectrum sale.
PrimeStar's limited 120-channel, high-power service debuted in two markets, Dallas and Charlotte, in
April. The "test" product uses a satellite and spectrum at 119 degrees and the sales support of RadioShack.
E-SAT, jointly owned by DBS Industries and EchoStar Commun-ications, was granted authorization to launch and operate six Low Earth Orbiting satellites by the Federal Communications Commission.
E-SAT is 20 percent owned by DBSI and 80 percent owned by EchoStar. When completed, the LEO satellite system will provide data communications services including two-way data messaging, Automatic Meter Reading, messaging for environmental monitoring and other services to utilities and oil and gas companies.
E-SAT's target customers will include investor owned utilities, rural electric cooperatives,
municipalities, meter manufacturers, meter data management agents, value-added information agencies
and corporations who have dispersed operations and require aggregate billing services.
GTE Corp. will offer DirecTV in markets it serves as part of a multi-year marketing and distribution agreement providing consumers a "one-stop shopping" telecommun-ications services packages.
The agreement - part of an aggressive effort by DirecTV to further expand its channels of distribution through local service providers - covers both the single-family residence and the multiple-family dwelling unit markets.
GTE will offer a service package that includes access to more than 185 channels and, in most cases, access to local broadcast channels. Following installation, GTE will remain the point of contact for customer support.
DirecTV, a unit of Hughes Electronics, has forged similar pacts with SBC Communications and Bell
Atlantic.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., reaffirmed Hughes Electronics' damage award against the U.S. government for infringement of a satellite-control patent in a long-standing lawsuit.
After legal proceedings that began in 1973, Hughes succeeded in winning a judgment against the government in August 1994. Judge James T. Turner of the Court of Federal Claims ruled the government owed Hughes more than $112 million plus interest.
In 1996, the Federal Circuit affirmed that award and the government appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court sent the case back to the Federal Circuit for reconsideration in light of its decision in another case.
In a unanimous opinion, the Federal Circuit concluded that its 1996 decision had been correct and was not affected by the separate ruling by the Supreme Court. The judgment with interest now totals in excess of $145 million.
Hughes applied for a patent in April 1960 on a pioneering satellite attitude-control system invented by Hughes physicist Donald Williams. The U.S. Patent Office in 1966 allowed Williams' claim, which was challenged by the U.S. government.
The technology has been used by every geosynchronous-orbit satellite from 1963 through 1974, and on every satellite from 1963 until 1982 that used a solid-fuel motor in its transfer to a geosynchronous orbit.
After several years in court, a U.S. patent was issued to Hughes in 1973. That year, Hughes filed suit
against the government.
Intelsat's Assembly of Parties meeting in Brazil, approved the creation of an independent spin-off company temporarily called New Skies Satellites, N.V.
Six satellites will be transferred from Intelsat to New Skies: Intelsat's Ka-band frequencies at the 95 degree and 319.5 degree orbital locations will be transferred to New Skies.
The global Intelsat consortium provides voice/data and video services to more than 200 countries and territories via satellite.