ITV To Use GlobeCast Australia For Reality Show
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GlobeCast Australia engineers and equipment will be on location throughout November and December for one of the biggest live reality television show broadcasts in the world. The team will deploy on Monday, November 2nd, to work on the ninth season of Granada’s “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here” for Britain’s ITV.

Satellite uplink infrastructure is installed in the rainforests of northern New South Wales, for send and receive transmissions, via connectivity to GlobeCast Australia’s international network of fibre and satellites. Live transmissions will go to Optus D2 and Intelsat IS-5. GlobeCast Australia was also on location in Costa Rica earlier this year, as Granada produced a season of the live show for America’s NBC, with GlobeCast Australia transmitting to IS-9 and IS-805. The team has also previously worked on the German version, “Ich Bin Ein Star”.

This is one example of several major broadcasts recently which showcased Australian locations and events for global audiences. In September, GlobeCast Australia delivered the Australian leg of the World Rally Championships live to international audiences for North One, and then in October was involved in a ground-breaking live hook-up between the Brisbane International Festival and the World Venice Forum. Such key entertainment and social events supplement regular live sports and news events by GlobeCast Australia for leading international broadcasters; along with its provision of more than 120 full time channels across Australia and New Zealand.

Telecom, TiVo, Sony partner for launch
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TiVo licensee Hybrid Television has teamed up with Telecom and Sony to deliver a series of New Zeland-first services on the TiVo platform — including unlimited TiVo downloads for any Telecom broadband customer using the device.

Hybrid CEO Robbee Minicola demonstrated the functionality, much of it developed by Hybrid and unique to the ANZ region, today, and outlined the exclusive partnership with Telecom.

Users can, of course, watch digital live TV on Freeview. Then there is more standard TiVo functionality of recording off a 14-day electronic programming guide. They can pause, fast forward and rewind live TV.

Users can also manage their content through the device and watch content from other TiVo boxes in the home wirelessly. Via home networking, users can watch content on their PC, including music and video but also pictures and other content.

That networking also allows content on the Tivo to be downloaded to a PC or compressed and loaded onto a device such as an iPod or Playstation Portable.

A web interface, being launched first in NZ and later in Australia, called TiVo Genie allows users to order the TiVo to record content from afar.

Also an NZ first is CASPA on demand entertainment. That's where Telecom comes in, allowing unmetered downloads.

"The days of late fees are over," Minicola says.

TiVo has deals with most of the major content providers and more will be added next year, says Minicola.
756 hours of movies and TV content are available on launch, and users have to have Telecom broadband to use CASPA.

Telecom's deal is performance-based, says Telecom director of home services Ralph Brayham. There is no revenue sharing, with Telecom simply getting the broadband fee.

The TiVo device costs $200 up front and $30 a month for two years, exclusively through Telecom. A $920 bundle of the device, wireless adapter and home networking package is available until January 2010.

Sony is delivering a music service on the platform too, in the form of BanditFM. This is currently the third biggest music store in Australia, according to Sony general manager of digital brand and development Gavin Parry.

Teaming with TiVo takes the service into the lounge in New Zealand. A launch of the web service is scheduled for late November. The service features music videos and interviews but no audio only content "yet" says Parry.

Stolen TiVos can be tracked by police
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The convergence of television and the internet could spell bad news for criminals. Hybrid Television spokeswoman Georgie Hills said one of its hi-tech TiVo personal video recorders was stolen from the home of a tester in Christchurch this month, but was automatically disabled.

Each TiVo set-top box has a unique code that is uploaded to Hybrid Television whenever anyone attempts to activate its broadband connection.

Ms Hills said that meant TiVos could be tracked by police with the help of internet providers, which could identify the owner of the internet account to which a stolen TiVo was connected by the customer's IP (internet protocol) address.

So far, however, Hybrid had not tried to locate its stolen TiVo. Ms Hills would not say why.

The TiVo, which goes on sale next Friday, can show programmes broadcast on television and downloaded over the internet.

It will be able to show channels broadcast on FreeviewHD and provide Telecom broadband customers with access to 135 movies and 600 television programme episodes over its built-in internet connection, to watch on television.

On-demand movies will cost $4.95 or $6.95 and downloaded television programmes $1.95 or $2.95. There will also be free programmes for download.

Hybrid Television chief executive Robbee Minicola said the amount of programming available for download would grow. By mid-next year customers might use TiVos to order food, book restaurants or learn languages. "This year it is about access to a world of on-demand entertainment."

The company, which is one-third owned by Television New Zealand, has the licence to TiVo in Australia and New Zealand. Ms Minicola expected it would appeal to customers who simply wanted a FreeviewHD receiver, without the online extras, given that it could record free-to-air programmes straight to a hard drive and rewind and pause "live" television.

Telecom will sell TiVos for $920, which includes a wireless adaptor and software that allows the wireless transfer of pictures and videos between home computers and the set-top box.

Sky shrugs off threat from newcomer TiVo
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Sky Television is forecasting that MySky HDi decoder and personal video recorder revenue will make the company stronger and more profitable in the years ahead. And as the first real competition arrives for MySky next week in the form of TiVo, the pay television company insists it is not concerned the newcomer will hit its revenues.

TiVo's Australian owner, Hybrid Television Services - one-third owned by TVNZ and linked to Telecom in this country - is to hold its local launch next week offering functions not available on Sky or on TiVo in Australia.

But TiVo barely rated a mention at the Sky Television annual meeting yesterday.

Chief executive John Fellet said: "All I can go from is in Australia where it has been established and has not had an effect on uptake. I don't know why it would be any different here."

The new free-to-air platform with a broadband-based pay TV option has an advanced interface with computers that will be central to the future of television.

MySky HDi has inactivated interactive functions. But with the arrival of corporate-backed pay TV competition, there are no signs yet that Sky intends embarking on a technological catch-up.

Sky is in nearly 50 per cent of New Zealand homes and its pay channels are off-limits to TiVo, which works with Freeview and broadband-based downloads of pay TV.

Fellet said Sky was looking at the functions and electronic programming guides for MySky but so was every pay operator. He pointed to the success of MySky, which is used by 128,000 of its 778,902 subscribers.

Sky chief waits before giving profit forecast
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KICKING FOR TOUCH: Broadcasts such as All Blacks games have helped Sky this year.

Sky Television boss John Fellet wants hard evidence that the recession "really is over" before serving up any robust earnings guidance for the year ahead.

Despite some early signs that the new financial year was off to a solid start, the pay tv operator's chief executive said he was uncomfortable providing a forecast for shareholders, standing by the numbers crunched by investment analysts instead.

Analyst consensus forecasts put Sky's earnings before interest and tax in a range of between $275 million and $296m for the year ending June 2010, with net profit after tax picked to come in between $92m and $105m.

Against an uncertain backdrop of reduced advertising revenue and cautious consumer spending, Mr Fellet told investors at Sky's annual meeting that future earnings would probably be close to analysts' averages of $285m and $99m respectively.

Sky announced a near 10 per cent slide in net profit to $88.4m for the year ended June 2009, and a 2 per cent fall in earnings before interest and tax to $261m despite increasing subscribers and revenue.

"The overall economy still represents our single biggest threat: I would much rather have a 40,000 net gain in subscribers and higher churn [disconnections] but that's not really possible at the moment," said Mr Fellet.

"When someone signs up to Sky they are really signing up to an annuity to pay me 60-odd dollars a month for the foreseeable future and that takes confidence in the economy and confidence in what Sky can deliver."

According to Sky's estimates, total television market advertising revenue has now declined for five successive quarters, most recently down 18 per cent for the three months to September.

While the trend has not hit Sky too hard per se – unlike its competitors Sky is not dependent on advertising for the bulk of its revenue – it has hurt the company's free-to-air channel, Prime.

"The ad market is clearly very difficult and is unlikely to turn for Sky for some time," said Tower head of equities Paul Robertshawe. "If they can achieve that guidance consensus with a big drag from advertising it means the core business is doing okay."

Aside from the obvious impact that falling advertising revenue could have on Sky's bottom line, Mr Fellet said the company could take heart knowing that the average revenue per customer and subscriptions were tracking higher than at the same stage last year. Since the end of June a net 7048 people have subscribed to Sky, up 153 on the same period last year, while average revenue per user has crept up 5 per cent to $66.51, fuelled in no small part by the popularity of the company's personal video recorder MySky.

More than 128,000 MySky decoders have been distributed since the device was launched last year amid much fanfare.

Ariane 5 delivers the NSS-12 and THOR 6 satellites on Arianespace’s sixth mission of 2009
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The sixth Ariane 5 flight of 2009 marked another success for this heavy-lift launcher today, carrying the first satellite launched by Arianespace for Telenor Satellite Broadcasting AS – THOR 6, along with the 32nd spacecraft from the SES group of companies entrusted for an Ariane launch – NSS-12.

Lifting off on time at 5:00 p.m. from the Spaceport in French Guiana, the Ariane 5 deployed the two television broadcast satellites during a mission lasting 31 minutes. It was the 48th flight of an Ariane 5 and its 34th success in a row.

“This latest success confirms that Ariane 5 is the commercial market’s only operational launcher capable of simultaneously launching two large direct television broadcast satellites,” said Arianespace Chairman & CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall. “It also confirms that Arianespace is the only launch services company capable of orbiting four commercial satellites in four weeks – which I also think is a new record.”

Ariane 5’s payload lift performance for the daytime flight was a total of 9,515 kg., which included a combined total of approximately 8,700 kg. for the NSS-12 and THOR 6 spacecraft, plus the launch vehicle’s dual-passenger dispenser system and satellite integration hardware.

The launcher provided another accurate delivery, with the following provisional parameters at the injection of Ariane 5’s cryogenic upper stage:
  • Perigee: 250.1 km. for a target of 249.8 km.
  • Apogee 35,961 km. for a target of 35,947 km.
  • Inclination: 5.98 deg. for a target of 6.00 deg.
This mission with NSS-12 continues Arianespace’s 25-year relationship of uninterrupted cooperation with the SES Group of companies, which was initiated in 1984 with the launch of Spacenet 1 on the inaugural commercial Ariane mission performed by Arianespace.

The NSS-12 satellite was released first during today’s launch, being deployed at 26 minutes into the flight. With a liftoff weight of approximately 5,620 kg., this spacecraft carries 40 C-band and 48 Ku-band transponders to provide telecommunications and direct-to-home television broadcast services for Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia.

It will be operated by SES WORLD SKIES from a geostationary orbit location of 57 deg. East, and is the second satellite launched by Arianespace this year for the SES group – following NSS-9, which was orbited by Ariane 5 in February.

NSS-12 was produced by Space Systems/Loral and is the 35th platform from this U.S.-based satellite manufacturer that Arianespace has launched.

THOR 6 was carried in the lower passenger position of Ariane 5’s payload “stack,” and it separated from the launcher at 31 minutes into the flight. Built in Europe by Thales Alenia Space, the 3,050-kg. satellite is fitted with 36 Ku-band transponders and will deliver high-power, direct-to-home television services from an orbital location of 1 deg. West.

When in service for Telenor Satellite Broadcasting, the capacity provided by THOR 6 will respond to the growing broadcast demands within Central and Eastern Europe and also provide additional capacity in the Nordic region.

“Congratulations to Arianespace. We have worked together now for two years to achieve this launch, and you continue to deliver, time after time,” commented Cato Halsaa, the Vice President and CEO of Telenor Satellite Broadcasting. “As this is your 34th consecutive successful launch, you must be very proud – and we are very proud to be part of your team here.”

Today’s launch continues the Ariane 5’s sustained mission pace and keeps the company on track for a total of seven missions planned this year. With the six flights already performed since February, the workhorse launcher has placed approximately 42,670 kg. in orbit.

The previous missions of 2009 were performed on October 1 with the Amazonas 2 and COMSATBw-1 satellites; on August 21 with JCSAT-12 and Optus D3; on July 1 with TerreStar-1; on May 14 with Herschel and Planck; and on February 12 with the HOT BIRD™ 10 and NSS-9 satellites, along with two Spirale auxiliary passengers.

Arianespace’s next mission is planned for early December with the Helios 2B French military reconnaissance satellite, marking Ariane 5’s final flight of this year.

“We set the goal of increasing our launch rate, and are on track to meet this challenge,” concluded Arianespace Chairman & CEO Le Gall. “Whenever one takes up a challenge, there are doubters. Arianespace will be pleased to win over these doubters by demonstrating that we can deliver, and that we made the right choice.”

Khampa Tibetan language TV channel opens
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The Khampa Tibetan language satellite TV channel opened in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, on Wednesday, according to the Sichuan Provincial Administration of Radio, Film and Television.

It is the third Tibetan language satellite TV channel in China following one in Tibet Autonomous Region and another in Qinghai Province.

The channel, broadcasting 18 hours a day, will use the logo of the Sichuan Provincial TV Station and broadcast mainly in the Khampa language, one of the three major Tibetan dialects.

Covering Tibet Autonomous Region, Sichuan, Yunnan, Qinghai and Gansu provinces, it will offer viewers news, art programs, weather forecasts and dubbed programs

China's Fourth Satellite Launch Center To Be Built In Hainan
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China currently has three satellite launch centers located in Xichang (pictured) in southwest Sichuan Province, Jiuquan in northwest Gansu Province and Taiyuan in Shanxi Province which is in the north of the country.

A new satellite launch center is now under construction near Wenchang in China's southernmost island province of Hainan. Once completed, it will be the country's fourth satellite launch centre and replace the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre (XSLC) for geosynchronous orbit (GEO) and other space launch missions. Yang Yong has more.

Covering 20 square kilometers, the Wenchang Satellite Launch Centre will include a command centre, in addition to a rocket-launching site, rocket assembly plant, and a space-science theme park.

The most important part, the rocket-launching site, will be located in Longlou Town, a mountainous place 40 minutes from Wenchang. The launch tower is about 800 meters away from the seaside.

Wang Kangqiang, director of Hainan Space Program Service Bureau, says that Hainan was selected as China's fourth launch centre mainly for its geographical advantages.

"Hainan is China's closest site to the equator and affords energy saving opportunities. The lower the latitude of the launch location the greater the centrifugal force is and a launch becomes easier and less expensive. "

Compared to the existing Xichang launch centre, a GEO satellite launched from Wenchang will be able to extend its service life by two or three years as a result of the fuel saved from the shorter maneuver from the transit orbit to GEO, Wang says.

"Additionally, as the new launch centre faces the sea in south and east directions, there is no danger of debris of the used launch vehicles falling into residential areas and large rockets can be easily transported to the launch center by sea."

According to Wang Kangqiang, the new launch centre is planned to be ready by 2013 and it will mainly shoulder the launching of GEO satellites, polar orbiting satellites, large space stations and deep space exploration satellites.

Liu Chunmei, mayor of Wenchang says that a space theme park will be built near the launch center, where tourists will have a grand view of the launching process.

"With rich natural beauty, the following up space themed resources in Wenchang will draw more attention from home and abroad. And it will surely boost local tourism and economy."

China currently has three satellite launch centers located in Xichang in southwest Sichuan Province, Jiuquan in northwest Gansu Province and Taiyuan in Shanxi Province which is in the north of the country