Gilat and Azercosmos signed an agreement to use Gilat's SkyEdge II-c network for multi-application satellite managed services for Azercosmos' customers. Azercosmos will use the network to offer managed services on its Azerspace-1 satellite, Gilat said Wednesday in a news release. The satellite serves customers in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and the Caucasus, it said.
Hughes’ latest portable broadband global area network (BGAN) terminal received Inmarsat type approval. The 9211-HDR terminal will operate with Inmarsat’s High Data Rate (HDR) streaming service, Hughes said Monday in a news release. The terminal provides data streaming rates of “an average speed of 650 kbps and speeds as high as 800 kbps” over Inmarsat’s BGAN HDR service, it said. It has multi-user Wi-Fi access and an active external antenna port that enables “future optional connectivity of remote semi-fixed and mobile tracking antennas,” it said.
Lockheed Martin completed thermal vacuum testing on a mobile user objective system (MUOS) communications satellite for the U.S. Navy. It's the fourth satellite in the MUOS constellation that's scheduled for launch next year, Lockheed Martin said Monday in a news release. It will complete the operational constellation and provide global coverage, it said. MUOS operates "like a smartphone cell tower in the sky" to improve current secure mobile satellite communications for war fighters on the move, Lockheed said.
SES will deliver the German channel, TurkShow, over Western Europe via the Astra satellite. The satellite is located at 19.2 degrees east, SES said. The channel will cater to the 6.5 million Turkish people living in Europe, it said.
The FCC International Bureau extended the comment deadline for further review of Part 25 rules to Jan. 29. Replies are due March 2, it said Monday in an order. The Satellite Industry Association asked for an extension this month (see 1411130043). SIA asserts that many satellite industry experts have been unavailable for consultation due to the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in October and November, the bureau said. The proposed extension of time was unopposed, it said.
The Satellite Industry Association requested an extension of time for the comment period on whether to create service rules for the 42-43.5 GHz band. SIA asked for a 30-day extension to Jan. 15 for initial comments, and Feb. 17 for replies, said its request, posted Wednesday in RM-11664. This would allow SIA and its members to better prepare a thorough, fact-based response to the FCC’s questions in the notice of inquiry, it said. Looking at one band for spectrum sharing with widely deployed mobile wireless services requires extensive analysis and review, SIA said. The FCC is seeking comment on multiple bands across a broad range of radio spectrum, it said.
Black Television News Channel reiterated that the FCC has a clear path to grant BTNC a waiver of the FCC’s advertising ban on DBS set-aside channels. Once the FCC waives or modifies its current ad ban, BTNC will satisfy the noncommercial programming requirement, BTNC said in a filing in docket 14-77. Because BTNC’s programming is targeted to an underserved and geographically dispersed minority, “there is currently no viable commercial case for carriage of the programming that BTNC seeks to offer,” it said. BTNC’s programming will not be “mass entertainment” over a “small audience,” but news, educational and informational programming, it said.
SES signed an agreement with Luxembourg's M7 Group for additional capacity on the Astra satellite at 23.5 degrees east. M7 Group will use the capacity to provide HD broadcasting for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, SES said in a news release Thursday. M7 Group will use the additional capacity to expand Skylink, its satellite TV platform.
The Linkin Park concert Nov. 19 at the O2 World Berlin arena will be the world’s first live concert to be broadcast via satellite encoded in HEVC with a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels, 50 frames a second and a 10-bit color depth, said SES and Samsung, which are teaming up for the event. It will be available exclusively on the Astra Ultra HD demo channel and can be received on Samsung 2014 Ultra HD TV screens, they said. SES Platform Services will manage the encoding of the content, they said.
The Satellite Industry Association wants a 45-day comment deadline delay for an FCC rulemaking on satellite issues, and comments should be due Jan. 29 and replies March 2, SIA said in a motion for extension posted Wednesday in docket 12-267. The Oct. 31 Further NPRM seeks comment on "several dozen proposals with significant domestic and international implications for the satellite industry," including how the FCC makes satellite network filings to the ITU, said the association. "Due to the ongoing ITU Plenipotentiary Conference currently taking place in Korea, however, many satellite industry experts on this topic are unavailable during the designated comment period."