Satellite Executive Briefing 1 October 2011

Industry Trends, News Analysis, Market Intelligence and Opportunities

Vol. 4 No. 9 October 2011

Developments in Satellite Ground Systems

by Virgil Labrador, Editor-in-Chief

S atellite ground stations and playout centers

have to cope with demanding availability re-

quirements. Unplanned shutdowns may cause

enormous follow-up costs and contract penalties.

Competition and the concentration of greater num-

bers of channels and circuits in fewer uplink and head end facilities, along with pressure to keep costs

down means that backup systems and redundancy

are perhaps more important than ever.

More Channels Through Fewer Head Ends

Today over 100 DTH platforms

around the world beam an esti-

mated 15,000-plus channels from

their uplink centers. Cable and

IPTV uplinks add even more to the mix. A single satellite transponder

can deliver scores of programs. A

single downlink polarity on a re-

ceive antenna at a CATV headed or

teleport can transmit hundreds of

services.

As a result, the failure of a single

device in the transmission chain

can affect large numbers of services - making the

need for smart, automated, backup protection sys-tems more critical, and more complex than the past,

some industry players say.

―Redundancy is a critical requirement in building a

successful broadcast facility. For linear broadcast

networks whether it be over the air, cable or DTH,

redundancy applies to all critical components in the

broadcast chain, from origination (whether tape or

file-based) to transmission delivery,‖ says Tony

Roberts, Sr. Manager, Earth Station/Teleport World-

wide Technology & Operations, Disney ABC Tele-

vision Group.

Beginning with power, it is important to have a good

UPS (uninterruptible power supply) in the event of

commercial power failure. Building a reliable

backup generator infrastructure that can support the

full technical and mechanical load with a UPS and

redundant generators that are routinely tested, will

ensure you always have power available.

―All of these components

which make up the earth

station require redun-dancy: power, router video

sources, encoders, multi-

plexers, up converters,

amplifiers and antennas to

meet the objective in

broadcasting, to stay ‗on

the air‘,‖ explains Roberts.

Redundancy Switches –

Flexibility is Your Secret

Friend

With all the service demands on active earth stations

facilities, keeping pace with changes requires flexi-

bility. For example, a facility may need to decide

quickly if they need a redundancy switch to back up

C-Band, Ku-Band, L-Band, ASI, Ethernet or other

signals.

Continued on page 4

What’s Inside

Latin American Market Update by B. Schneiderman ……………………..…9 Interference: The Counter-Offensive by Martin Jarrold...10 Regular Sections Report from IBC …11 Conference Report: Satellite Business Week………….…....13 SATCON 2011 MarketPlace……....16 Op-Ed: One Idea for the Echo Chamber By L. Zacharilla…..20 Industry Briefs…...22 Market Briefs….….26 Vital Statistics.......28 Events Calendar/ Ad Index………......29 Stock Index……....30

Ground systems manufacturers are adopting to changing customer requirements

Teleports and other ground stations need to meet various demands for interfacility links and other customer requirements.

October 2011 2 Satellite Executive Briefing

Satellite Executive Briefing 3 October 2011

EDITORIAL Virgil Labrador Editor-in-Chief virgil@satellitemarkets.com Elisabeth Tweedie Associate Editor elisabeth@satellitemarkets.com Contributing Editors: North America: Robert Bell, Bruce Elbert, Dan Freyer, Lou Zacharilla Latin America: B. H. Schneiderman Europe: Martin Jarrold, London Jan Grøndrup-Vivanco, Paris Roxana Dunnette, Geneva Asia-Pacific: Peter Galace, Manila Tom van der Heyden, Hong Kong Riaz Lamak, India

ADVERTISING

Michelle Elbert Director of Marketing

michelle@satellitemarkets.com

Satellite Executive Briefing is published monthly by

Synthesis Publications LLC and is available for free at www.satellitemarkets.com

SYNTHESIS PUBLICATIONS LLC P.O.Box 4174

West Covina CA 91791 USA Phone: +1-626-931-6395

Fax +1-425-969-2654 E-mail: info@satellitemarkets.com

©2011. No part of this publication may be reprinted or reproduced without prior written consent from the publisher.

From the Editor

N othing really big was announced at the IBC last month. The

biggest splash was made by SES which launched its new branding, consolidating all of its operations under the ―SES‖

name. This would make it much easier for it to operate in the

competitive global environment. SES is now closing in the lead-

ing satellite operator Intelsat, which has just over 50 satellites to SES‘ 49.

What was potentially more significant was the announcement at the GVF pre-

conference at the IBC made by Eutelsat that it will be requiring all its users to

have Carrier ID capability which can help identify sources of interference.

Industry groups like the GVF and sIRG are hoping other operators will fol-

low suit, which it hopes will lead to the standardization of Carrier ID capabil-

ity in uplink equipment. Interference is a major problem for the industry and

the article on page 10 by Martin Jarrold sheds more light on this problem and the initiatives from GVF and sIRG to address this important issue.

For more on the IBC, check out my report on page 11. Elisabeth Tweedie also

covered the Satellite Business Week in Paris last month, which was held just

after IBC. Her report is on page 13.

This month, Satellite Markets and Research will be exhibiting for the first time

at the SATCON Exhbition in New York City from October 12-13. We hope

to see you there. Drop by our booth # 303 anytime.

Satellite Interference

Go online and view videos from the IBC 2011

Andreas Hausotter, CEO

Work Microwave

www.satellitemarkets.com/current

David Furstenberg, Chairman

NovelSat

David Provencher, GM

Cobham Land Systems

Eric Gallier, VP-Marketing

Thomson Video Networks

Plus audio podcasts and videos from previous shows this year

October 2011 4 Satellite Executive Briefing

Satellite Ground Systems. from page 1

Cover Story

Manufacturers such as DEV System-

technik are responding with modular

solutions, where a universal chassis can

be loaded with application-specific modules, giving customers more flexi-

bility than in the past.

―At Ericsson Television we particularly

like the DEV 1951 switch because it is

perfectly suited for broadcast needs. Its

output signal will persist even if power

is lost to the unit,‖ explains Steven

Woodhead, Systems Engineering Group

Manager, Ericsson Television Limited,

which provides compression, contribu-

tion and distribution systems used by major broadcasters and service provid-

ers throughout the world.

―This is essential for the broadcast envi-

ronment. It also offers the capability of

hosting many different card types to suit

different signal types, and can accom-

modate up to two switches in one chas-

sis,‖ adds Woodhead. Adding yet

more flexibility, DEV switch modules

can even be upgraded or swapped in and out by a user in the field.

Monitoring and Control (M&C)

Some traditional systems for failover

protection require a human operator.

The more complex the equipment com-

ponents and system, the more difficult

effective human intervention can be-

come, even with fully trained staff.

Hence, the need for Monitoring & Con-

trol (M&C) systems. ―With a good M&C (monitor and control system) you

can operate and monitor the perform-

ance of each of the components in the

broadcast chain successfully, which will

result in reliable signal delivery to your

customer,‖ says Disney‘s Tony Roberts.

Easy integration of various manufactur-

ers‘ component gear into an M&C sys-

tem via open standards, as well as easy

and increasingly web browser-friendly control interfaces remains a goal.

Technology suppliers are hearing that

message from users, and integrating

interoperability into their products. A

case in point is one of DEV America‘s

RF redundancy switching products be-

ing used in satellite, cable, broadcast,

and teleport head ends to provide both IFL redundancy and downlink antenna

redundancy.

RF Switch Redundancy Meets

Automatic Dish Backup

The traditional way to build an auto-

matic backup antenna system is to use

an RF matrix in combination with an

M&C system. The work to integrate

the matrix functions in terms of antenna

redundancy functions into an M&C

system can cost a significant amount of

time and money. ―DEV‘s innovative

redundancy switches save you as much

as 85% in cost compared to other alter-natives on the market – by delivering

signal monitoring plus built-in antenna

control and automatic positioning – all

in an economical single 3RU device,‖

says Jörg Schmidt, President of DEV

America. This kind of solution also

takes up much less space than the tradi-

tional approach, and integrates every-

thing.

―With this redundancy equipment, no

operator intervention is needed because the switching to redundant paths or

modules, or even redundant antennas, is

done automatically when it is necessary

— without any downtime or human

fault rates,‖ adds Schmidt.

Evolving Amplifiers

On the uplink path, high power amplifi-

ers (HPAs) , 1:1 redundancy (1 backup

per active amplifier) has long been stan-dard practice. "Many of our customers

use 1:1 systems, having a working unit

and a hot stand-by,‖ explains Eric

Schmidt, Director of Marketing & Sales

for amplifier manufacturer Comtech

Xicom. ―These can be switched in/out

“...Redundancy is a critical requirement in building a suc-cessful broadcast facility. For linear broadcast networks

whether it be over the air, cable or DTH, redundancy applies to all critical compo-nents in the broad-cast chain, from origination (whether tape or file-based) to transmission delivery…” -Tony Roberts, Senior Manager, Worldwide Technology & Operations, Disney ABC Television Group

Comtech Xicom’s XTD-400KHE high power amplifier (photo: Comtech Xicom)

Satellite Executive Briefing 5 October 2011

October 2011 6 Satellite Executive Briefing

Feature

on a moment‘s notice. This provides

redundancy and the opportunity to test

or maintain the stand-by side.‖

The gradual replacement of traditional klystron power amplifiers (KPA) with

traveling wave tube amplifiers (TWTA)

is changing redundancy approaches.

With a traditional fixed station that uses

Klystron power amplifiers, the users

must have one KPA for each transmis-

sion channel. These are generally pro-

tected with a hot-standby KPA protect-

ing 2 or 4 working channels.

―This is a very expensive and ineffi-

cient way to assure protection. Since a TWTA is a broadband device, one

TWTA can back-up multiple KPAs"

says Schmidt. Moving to TWTA tech-

nology lets uplinks reduce the number

of HPAs, as well as related multiplex-

ers, and simplify redundancy switching

systems, compared with traditional kly-

strons. In addition, since transmit fre-

quencies on a TWTA are easily

changed by modifying its input,

TWTAs eliminate the need for a fast channel changer for the backup HPA;

klystrons must be mechanically tuned.

In applications where solid-state power

amplifier technology (SSPAs) offers an

alternative to TWTAs, redundancy con-

siderations have also changed in recent

years. ―TWTAs must remain in a warm

-stand-by mode 7/24, constantly using

up power, HVAC resources and opera-

tional life,‖ says Colin Boyd, VP of

Broadcast Systems for amplifier manu-facturer Wavestream. ―Our SSPA solu-

tions operate in a cold stand-by mode,

with no power usage. Customers save

energy costs over the life of the system,

which can add up to hundreds of thou-

sands of dollars annually.‖

Inter-facility Links and Backup via

Fiber

Above and beyond redundancy within a facility, Disney‘s Roberts points out, ―It

is important to consider satellite and

earth station redundancy by managing

through a well-designed business conti-

nuity plan or disaster recovery plan

(alternate broadcast location).‖ Thanks

Cover Story

From Dish to Rack and Back

In recent years, large earth station operators and RF distribution and switch

manufacturers have been coming to the same conclusion: compared to tradi-

tional coaxial cable, fiber-optic links within the earth station and connecting sig-

nals from the outdoor equipment offer advantages.

Manufacturers such as DEV Systemtechnik, Foxcom, SatService and Vialite

have developed fiber optic inter-facility link equipment to directly connect anten-nas and outdoor RF systems with indoor IF, L-band and base band gear in both in

a local earth station, as well as with remote facilities that may be many kilome-

ters away, such as control rooms, network operations centers or broadcast head

ends.

Advantages of RF over fiber links include:

• low transmission losses over long distances,

• no frequency-dependent losses in the transmission band

• galvanic isolation between transmitter and receiver,

• insensitivity to electro-magnetic interference

• higher security against signal interception compared to RF.

These are no doubt key reasons why RF over fiber and coax solutions from DEV

Systemtechnik have made inroads at some of the world‘s largest satellite broad-

cast facilities. DEV America (www.dev-america.com) is a subsidiary of Ger-

many-based DEV Systemtechnik GmbH & Co. KG, (www.dev-

systemtechnik.com) which develops and produces a complete range of leading-

edge, high-performance products and systems for the optical and electrical trans-

mission of Radio Frequency (RF) signals via coaxial cable or fiber for satellite, cable, and broadcast television head ends. DEV products include distribution

amplifiers, splitters and combiners, switching systems, distributing matrices,

routing products, multiplexers, and fiber-optic RF signal transmission systems.

OPTRIBUTION® (Optical Transmission and Distribution of RF Signals) is DEV

Systemtechnik‘s systematic approach to the ongoing development of the signal

distribution infrastructure in satellite ground stations and CATV head-ends.

Benefits that satellite facilities can gain from integrated RF and fiber optic trans-

port through OPTRIBUTION® include improved signal quality and reliability,

and the need to monitor less equipment, and the ability to do so with simpler user

-friendly interfaces. This, along with reduced rack space, power and heat con-

sumption can help satellite head ends, teleports, and uplink facilities save on costs and overhead.

―It‘s an example of DEVs innovative development strategy to minimize space

while reducing costs, maintenance time, and the number of active modules in a

chain. Also we minimize risk of signal loss, because less equipment means that

fewer devices can fail,‖ explains DEV America President Jörg Schmidt.

Satellite Executive Briefing 7 October 2011

October 2011 8 Satellite Executive Briefing

to the huge drop in fiber bandwidth

costs over the past ten years, distant and

remotely located antenna farms con-

nected by fiber can also cost-effectively

provide disaster recovery services for catastrophic facility outages, or outages

such as an individual antenna failure.

Geographically separate facilities can

share backup antennas and route signals

between them over fiber, where tradi-

tional copper coax would be cost pro-

hibitive.

But while a Disaster Recovery site cer-

tainly increases the potential reliability

of a network, ―If a control solution does

not have visibility over both sites, then much of that potential may be wasted.

In fact, a disaster recovery uplink could

disrupt the network if both sites are

transmitting simultaneously and there

isn‘t a unified monitoring system alert-

ing operators that a dual illumination

situation is occurring,‖ says Roger

Franklin, President and CEO of Crystal

Solutions™, which provides earth sta-

tion and broadcast M&C systems. "In

multi-chain, multi-site ground stations,

having the right redundancy control

system will significantly increase net-

work reliability and deliver cost savings

over traditional hardware UPC and old-

style redundancy designs.‖

Overall, while the devices in the

ground systems chain may change over

time, the case for redundancy remains

the same: accomplishing the business

objective of uninterrupted services

within budget that are constrained by

the realities of competitive markets.

Feature Cover Story

Virgil Labrador is the Editor-in-Chief of Satellite Market and

Research based in Los Angeles, California. He is the author of two

books on the satellite industry and has been covering the industry

for various publications since 1998. Before that he worked in vari-

ous capacities in the industry, including a stint as marketing direc-

tor for the Asia Broadcast Center, a full-service teleport based in Singapore. He

can be reached at virgil@satellitemarkets.com

“...While devices in the ground systems chain may change over time, the case for redundancy remains the same: accomplishing the business objective of uninterrupted services within budget …”

Satellite Executive Briefing 9 October 2011

The record prices for orbital slots in Brazil may be indicative of the growing capacity demand

Latin American Satellite Market

by B. H. Schneiderman

W ith the sluggish satellite services sectors in the

mature markets of North America and Europe,

the focus has been on emerging regions such as Latin America which has been experiencing a major boom in

the last few years. The demand for satellite services in Latin

America is only expected to grow exponentially in the next

few years with the Soccer World Cup in 2014 and the

Olympics in 2016 slated to be held in Brazil.

Brazil-Latin America’s Leading Market

Brazil is one of the fastest growing economies in the world

along with Russia, India and China (the so-called BRIC

countries). In 2010 Brazil‘s

GDP growth was 7.5% and the forecast for 2011 is 4%.

Currently there is a shortage of

satellite capacity in Brazil. The

gap between supply and de-

mand for satellite capacity in

Brazil has seen domestic and

international satellite operators

scrambling to meet existing

and future demand.

Given the shortage of capacity,

the Brazilian government de-

cided this year through the

regulatory agency Anatel (the

Brazilian equivalent of the

FCC) to open the bidding proc-

ess for four orbital satellite po-

sitions last August 23. The in-

terested companies were al-

lowed to participate in the bidding process as a consortium,

but the same company or a subsidiary or affiliate of its parent

company could not be granted more than two orbital slots. The right to operate is valid for 15 years, renewable for an-

other 15 years. The winning bidders will have four years to

fill up the orbital slot with an operational satellite.

In the case of orbital positions already assigned to Brazil by

the International Telecommunications Union, 25% of the

capacity of the satellite is earmarked for domestic use and in

the case of positions not yet assigned, the requirement for

domestic use goes up to 50%. In both cases, the satellites

need to cover 100% of the Brazilian territory. The minimum

price set for each orbital position was US$ 2.4 million.

Last August 30, Anatel received bids for the four orbital slots

totaling that US$ 154.9 million. Anatel had qualified seven

companies that participated in the bidding process: Eutelsat,

Hispamar (owned by Hispasat), Intelsat, SES, SKY Brazil,

StarOne and Hughes Americas.

HNS Americas Communications Inc. (owned by Hughes

which was recently acquired by Echostar) was reported to

have bid US$ 88.3 million for the first orbital slot in 45 de-

grees west—a staggering sum for one orbital slot that sur-

prised many seasoned industry observers. In addition to this

position, Hughes also got the winning bid for the fourth or-

bital slot at 68.5 degrees west, at a cost of US$ 21.4 million.

Star One SA (owned by Brazilian telco Embratel and con-

trolled by Mexican conglomerate

Telmex) won the bid for the second orbital slot at 70 degrees west, for

US $ 22.5 million. Star One SA also

offered the best bid for the third orbit

slot at 84 degrees west, for the

amount of US$ 22.5 million. During

the bidding process some analysts

speculated that StarOne might appeal

against Hughes‘ second slot because

of the possibility of interference be-

tween the position of 68.5 degrees

West acquired by Hughes and the position of 70 degrees acquired by

StarOne.

Beside these new commercial satel-

lites, the Ministry of Communica-

tions of Brazil just announced in

August the 2012-2015 Plan with a

budget of US$ 433 million to launch

two or three satellites to be defined

later for the government program to provide capacity for the

ministries of Defense and Education (for Internet access to

schools and remote regions of the country). This project was on hold during the previous administration due to internal

discussions on who will manage the program. With the

budget already allocated by the telecom holding company

owned by the Brazilian government, Telebras, the govern-

ment revived the satellite project at the end of 2010 with the

target implementation in the next four years.

Currently the Brazilian telecom regulatory agency, Anatel,

lists 44 satellites with license to operate and provide services

in the Brazilian territory. Among these include 12 domestic

Regional Update

Brazil will be the venue for two of the most high profile sporting events: the FIFA Soccer World Cup in 2014 and the Summer Olympics in 2016. Pictured above is an artist’s rendition of one of the planned Olympic structures in Rio de Janeiro. (image courtesy of Rio2016.com)

October 2011 10 Satellite Executive Briefing

(Brazilian-owned and operated) satellites and 32

foreign satellites (see table).

Jurandir Pitsch, vice president of market develop-

ment for Latin America of SES said during the recent Broadcast and Cable conference in Sao

Paolo that SES is planning to expand capacity for

the Brazilian market with the launch of SES-4 in

the fourth quarter of 2011 replacing NSS-7 for the

22 degrees west and relocating the NSS-7 to the

orbital slot of 20 degree west continuing provid-

ing services until 2016. Additionally SES plans to

launch another satellite in early 2013, SES-6,

which will replace NSS-806 located at 40.5 de-

grees west expanding the current six Ku-Band

transponders with 48 new transponders in Ku-

Band beside the continue coverage with C-Band Transponders. To support the broadcast market in

Brazil, SES is launching a multi-region satellite

SES-5 in 2012 that will provide coverage in

Europe, Africa and Latin America offering capa-

city to broadcasters to transmit signals from Bra-

zil to Europe and Africa and vice-versa.

Intelsat plans to put into orbit by the end of 2013

two more satellites covering Brazil: IS-21 and

IS-27. The first is scheduled for the second quar-

ter of 2012 and will replace the IS-9 at the orbital position of 302 degrees east. The IS-27, in turn,

will occupy the position of 304.5 degrees east and

is expected to be launched in 2013. These satel-

lites will increase the number of transponders in

C- and Ku-band provided by the company for

services in Brazil.

Spanish operator Hispasat also announced Sep-

tember 7 that it has contracted with Arianespace

for the launch of the Amazonas-3 satellite some-

time in the fourth quarter of 2012 or early 2013.

Amazonas-3 will be built by Space Systems/

Loral and will have 33 Ku-band transponders, 19

C-band transponders and nine Ka-Band broad-

band spot beams. The satellite will replace the

Amazonas-1 satellite, providing a range of broad-

band telecommunications services to the Ameri-

cas and Europe from the 61 degrees west orbital

position.

These new satellites will have their hands full

meeting the insatiable demand for DTH, Distance

Learning, Government, Broadband and other

applications for the Brazilian market.

Regional Update

Satellite Operator Satellite Name Band

Hispamar Satélites Amazonas 1 C & Ku

Amazonas 2 C, Ku & Ka

Telesat Brasil Capacidade Estrela do Sul Ku

de Satelite Ltda. Estrela do Sul 2 Ku

Brasilsat-B2 C

Brasilsat-B3 C

Brasilsat-B4 C

StarOne Star One C1 C, X & Ku

Star One C2 C, X & Ku

Star One C3 C & Ku

Star One C4 C, L & S

Star One C5 C & Ku

Eutelsat Atlantic Bird 1 Ku

Atlantic Bird 2 Ku

Atlantic Bird 3 C & Ku

W2A C

Hispasat Hispasat 1C Ku

Hispasat 1D Ku

Inmarsat

Inmarsat -

3 AOR East L & C

Inmarsat -

3 AOR West -2 L & C

Inmarsat - 4F3 L

Intelsat IS 10-02 C

IS-805 C

IS-901 C

IS-903 C

IS-905 C

IS-907 C

Galaxy 28 C & Ku

IS-1R C & Ku

IS-3R C & Ku

IS-14 C

Galaxy 3C Ku

IS-11 Ku

IS-9 C & Ku

Telesat Brasil Telestar 12 Ku

Anik F1 C & Ku

Satelites Mexicanos Satmex 5 C & Ku

Satmex 6 C

SES AMC-4 Ku

AMC-12 C

NSS-806 C & Ku

NSS-5 C

NSS-7 C & Ku

Direct TV Group (Sky

Brasil) Spaceway-1 Ka B. H. Schneiderman is the Principal of Telemat-ics Business Consultants. He can be reached at : info@tbc-telematics.com

Satellites Licensed to Operate in Brazil Source: Brazilian regulatory agency Anatel

Satellite Executive Briefing 11 October 2011

Satellite Operator Satellite Name Band

Hispamar Satélites Amazonas 1 C & Ku

Amazonas 2 C, Ku & Ka

Telesat Brasil Capacidade Estrela do Sul Ku

de Satelite Ltda. Estrela do Sul 2 Ku

Brasilsat-B2 C

Brasilsat-B3 C

Brasilsat-B4 C

StarOne Star One C1 C, X & Ku

Star One C2 C, X & Ku

Star One C3 C & Ku

Star One C4 C, L & S

Star One C5 C & Ku

Eutelsat Atlantic Bird 1 Ku

Atlantic Bird 2 Ku

Atlantic Bird 3 C & Ku

W2A C

Hispasat Hispasat 1C Ku

Hispasat 1D Ku

Inmarsat

Inmarsat -

3 AOR East L & C

Inmarsat -

3 AOR West -2 L & C

Inmarsat - 4F3 L

Intelsat IS 10-02 C

IS-805 C

IS-901 C

IS-903 C

IS-905 C

IS-907 C

Galaxy 28 C & Ku

IS-1R C & Ku

IS-3R C & Ku

IS-14 C

Galaxy 3C Ku

IS-11 Ku

IS-9 C & Ku

Telesat Brasil Telestar 12 Ku

Anik F1 C & Ku

Satelites Mexicanos Satmex 5 C & Ku

Satmex 6 C

SES AMC-4 Ku

AMC-12 C

NSS-806 C & Ku

NSS-5 C

NSS-7 C & Ku

Direct TV Group (Sky

Brasil) Spaceway-1 Ka

The Hispasat/Hispamar fleet of satellites provide state-of-the-art technology with the latest on-board processing and innovative solutions for the American market. We can provide leading-edge, end-to-end services for broadcast, broadband, enterprise and military/government applications.

Your Gateway to the US and the rest of the Americas and beyond

www.hispamar.com.br

www.hispasat.com

Show Report

It’s All About Content Delivery at IBC by Virgil Labrador, Editor-in-Chief

T his is not your father‘s IBC.

Like most industry shows, the

IBC is evolving and it‘s getting

harder to distinguish from the tradition-

ally broadcast-oriented shows like the IBC in Amsterdam and the NAB in Las

Vegas with the Consumer Electronic

Show (CES) and other shows deal-

ing with content delivery and ma-

nagement. This year‘s IBC featured

as keynote speaker, Facebook‘s

EMEA Managing Director, Joanna

Shields who assured the attendees in

her speech that ―we will not go into

the content business.‖ Hmm, where

have we heard that before?

The discussions at IBC dealt with,

among others, the growing Over-the

-Top (OTT) services that are gaining in

popularity. IMS Research forecasts that

in 2016, OTT video services will gener-

ate $16.4 billion in 2016 and video-on-

demand (VOD) services from pay-TV

operators will generate another $14.7

billion, for a combined $31.1 billion in

on-demand revenues.

OTT services and products were on

display at the ―Connected World‖ sec-

tion of the IBC which occupied the

largest hall in Hall 13. The Connected

World included the Mobile and IPTV

zones which featured new technologies

driving the revolution in the creation,

distribution & consumption of video/

multimedia content via internet-

connected devices and the connected

home of the future. Among the exhibi-

tors at Connected World include pro-

viders of set-top boxes, hybrid TVs,

LCDs, netbooks, games consoles, tablet

PCs, media players,

mobile phones and

other consumer de-

vices.

Satellite service providers are adopting

to the new multimedia environ-

ment and repositioning themselves

as ―content delivery providers.‖

The new mantra seems to be ―we

can take any signal, in any format

and deliver it to any media.‖

One such company is Israel-based

satellite service provider, Satlink

Communications. Satlink, which

operates teleports, is positioning

itself as a provider of ―Content

Delivery Networks‖ (CDN).

―The requirements of customers have

changed over the years. It is no longer

sufficient to just provide traditional

uplink and downlink services. Now it is

essential to provide a true end-to-end

service that can deliver content from

different formats to different distribu-

October 2011 12 Satellite Executive Briefing

tion channels,‖ said Satlink CEO David

Hochner ( Listen to a podcast of the in-

terview at www.satellitemarkets.com/

current/?q=node/98 ).

―Content is king, but interface is the

crown,‖ said Bill Roedy of MTV Net-

works in the session on the ―Future of

Broadcasting.‖ Consequently we see a

lot of interface equipment on display at

the show. The buzzwords are

―interoperability‖ and ―multiplatform

delivery.‖

The following are some key trends that I

observed from visiting several equip-

ment manufacturers at IBC:

Ka-Band. Several new Ka-Band satel-

lites like Eutelsat‘s KA-SAT, Avanti‘s

Hylas-1, Yahsat-1, among others have

been launched recently in the EMEA

region and many more are planned. This

makes Ka-Band ground equipment in

great demand.

Bandwidth Optimization. Equipment

that optimizes bandwidth and use scarce

spectrum efficiently are very hot. With

rising transponder prices and growing

demand from users, bandwidth optimi-

zation products can save customers a lot

in cost and everybody is looking to save

money any way they can these days.

Carrier ID. Satellite interference is a

major issue with incidences on the rise

globally. At IBC, Eutelsat announced

that it will be requiring all its users to

have Carrier ID capability which can

help identify sources of interference.

Industry groups like the GVF and sIRG

are hoping other operators will follow

suit, which it hopes will lead to the stan-

dardization of Carrier ID capability in

uplink equipment.

Finally, attendance this year is up 4%

percent from last year at the IBC, with

good representation from all over the

world. This just goes to show that the

IBC continues to be relevant not just for

the EMEA region but for others as well.

Show Report

Satellite Executive Briefing 13 October 2011

The mood at the Satellite Business Week in Paris was not as upbeat as in recent years

Industry Outlook ‘Generally Positive’

by Elisabeth Tweedie

A lthough the overall mood at the Satellite Business

Week conference organized by Euroconsult in Paris last September 12-16 was not as ebullient as it has

been in the last couple of years, it was none the less gener-

ally positive.

The first day was marked by a lively discussion between

Euroconsult and the satellite manufacturers as to the likely

number of satellite orders in the next few years. Eurocon-

sult‘s forecast indicating that we are now at the peak of a

cycle with a three year average of 26 orders per annum val-

ued at US$4.5 Billion in the 2011-13 timeframe, but that this

was going to fall to an average of 17 per annum by 2016-18

valued at only US$2 Billion.

Kathy Shockey,

VP of Business

De ve l opm en t ,

Space Systems

Loral opened her

presentation by

commenting that

if she believed

those numbers

she would be on her way to Notre

Dame to light a

candle for the

industry! Her

analysis of the

market indicated

that although the

market may fall a

little it would not

be as drastic a

downturn as

Euroconsult pre-dicted. Of the

290 communica-

tion satellites in

orbit, 190 were

due to be replaced in the next few years. Jean-François

Charrier, VP Marketing and Institutional Relations EADS

Astrium agreed saying that he was expecting an average of

22 orders p.a. in the coming years.

It‘s been noted before at Satellite Business Week; the satel-

lite industry has suffered less from the global economic

downturn than other industries. Eutelsat presented a chart clearly demonstrating this, showing that growth in TPE de-

mand continued to outpace growth in both world GDP and

Telecom, Media and Technology (TMT) revenues. Maybe

this is one reason why export credit financing is still flowing.

The satellite industry has benefited from $4.5 Billion of this

since 2009 and an additional $3 Billion has been announced

or is in the pipeline.

On the application front the things that generated most dis-

cussion were Ka-Band and video, OTT in particular.

One thing every-one was agreed on

was that Ka-Band

is becoming a

major force in the

industry. No one

making this point

more succinctly

than Tom Moore,

Senior VP of Vi-

aSat who pro-

duced a chart showing that Ka-

Band was generat-

ing revenue of

$500K per annum

per licensed MHz

– an order of mag-

nitude higher than

revenue from Ku-

Band. He also

pointed out that he

combined Ka-

Band retail service revenues of HNS

and ViaSat ranked

on a par with the

revenue of JSAT,

the fourth largest FSS Operator in the world.

With only one HTS recently launched it is not surprising that

Euroconsult indicate that of the approximately 1,600 enter-

prise broadband terminals currently in use only a very few

are pointed at High Throughput Satellites (HTS). However

by 2020 the picture will be very different with over 50% of

The Satellite Business Week conference organized by Euroconsult featured senior executives discussing key industry issues. In this session pictured here is the panel on “Broadband Satellite Operators: New Systems for New Markets” featuring from left: Moderator: David Hartshorn, Secretary-General, GVF; Bahram Pourmand, President, Hughes USA; David Williams, CEO, Avanti Communications; Andrew Wallace, Chief Commercial Officer, Eutelsat; Patrick Biewer, Managing Director, Astra Broadband Services; Thomas Moore, Senior VP, ViaSat. (Satellite Markets and Research photo)

Conference Report

October 2011 14 Satellite Executive Briefing

Conference Report

the approximately 4.3M enterprise terminals pointing in their

direction. On the consumer side the growth in Ka-Band sub-

scribers is even more dramatic; predicted to increase from

around 1.5M today, to around 14M by 2020. Combine these

projections with Tom Moore‘s data and it‘s easy to under-stand why the future is Ka!

With a KA-SAT service launch on May 31st of this year An-

drew Wallace, Chief Commercial Officer of Eutelsat was

keen to point out that Eutelsat was operating the world‘s

largest HTS. However since ViaSat 1 is now at Baikanour

awaiting a launch, all being well this will be a short lived

claim. He opened his presentation by stating that in Europe

the market for satellite broadband existed in all countries.

13M households only have dial-up service and another 17M

have ―broadband‖ of less than 2Mbps. He cited the case of a

village in the UK only 75 minutes by car from a major city, which had no terrestrial broadband service at all. KA-SAT is

offering 50Mbps down and 20Mbps up for enterprise cus-

tomers and 10/4Mbps for consumers. For Eutelsat KA-SAT

is being marketed to existing Ku broadcast customers as a

means to offering triple play. Forthnet in Greece is now of-

fering this service. Other speakers pointed out that the re-

verse is occurring and DTH is being marketed by Telcos as

their means of providing triple play.

Ka-Band is being used for applications beyond the basic

consumer and enterprise broadband, one of the most interest-ing being its entry into the SNG market. A Ku-Band SNG

terminal costs around €150,000 and has to be mounted on a

truck. A Ka-Band SNG terminal can be packed in a suitcase

for rapid transport to anywhere in the world that news crews

jet into and costs only €10,000. As more Ka-Band satellites

are deployed the relay of news from remote areas could

change significantly. Other potential applications include

mobile (maritime, aeronautical and terrestrial), military, local

TV and off-shore.

David Williams, CEO of Avanti said that Hylas was being

used for 4 main applications. In addition to consumer and enterprise broadband it was also serving Government Or-

ganizations (Institutions and Military) and providing back-

haul and edgecasting for Mobile Operators. He said that he

didn‘t expect consumer broadband ever to represent more

than 25% of capacity, primarily because consumer applica-

tions ramp up relatively slowly compared to other applica-

tions that ramp up in large ―chunks‖.

Tom Moore predicted that there would be another 12 serious

Ka-Band programs on the books in the next year, something

that should please but not surprise the manufacturers. Char-rier pointing out that eight out of the fourteen satellites cur-

rently on the order books had Ka-Band payloads and

Shockey predicting that 20% of orders in the next five years

would be for broadband satellites. All the operators agreed

that the market was deriving considerable benefit from gov-

ernment funding around the world to extend the reach of

broadband.

Bahram Pourmand, President of Hughes USA commented

that the Echostar purchase of Hughes was giving them a stronger reach into the market, mentioning that Hughes had

global ambitions for Spaceway and was currently working

with Avanti and YahSat and hoped to expand on those rela-

tionships. Jupiter – Hughes‘ HTS - is due to be launched in

the first quarter of 2012.

Video has been and continues to be a key driver for the satel-

lite market, what is changing is the impact of HD which is

now fueling the growth as the increase in new SD channels is

slowing. Excluding DIRECTV and Dish there are now

1,600 HD channels worldwide (approximately 500 of these

are in North America). Most of the growth has come from countries outside of North America, with the number of HD

channels virtually doubling in the last year from 560 to

1,100. Overall the video distribution market has shown a

CAGR of 13% for the last few years. Of the 126 DTH plat-

forms in service in 2010, 80 were offering HD services. 3D

channels are making their appearance but Euroconsult fore-

casts show them representing only a small sliver of the mar-

ket by 2020.

At the end of 2010 there were 29,000 satellite TV channels –

2,000 more than at the end of the previous year and this is predicted to increase to 45,000 by 2020. Emerging markets

continue to fuel this growth accounting for 90% of the net

increase for the last two years.

The impact of Over The Top (OTT) TV was acknowledged

but its impact debated. Most saying that while it is definitely

a factor to be considered demand for cable and satellite de-

livery would remain the dominant force. David Hershberg,

CEO of Globecomm had a very different viewpoint stating

very forcibly that DTH was going away and would be re-

placed by broadband in the next 10 years. If he is correct –

and his predictions have been so before – this industry will be very different in 2021.

Elisabeth Tweedie is the Associate Editor

of Satellite Executive Briefing. She has

over 20 years experience at the cutting

edge of new communication and entertain-

ment technologies. She is also the founder and President of Definitive Direction, a

consultancy that focuses on researching

and evaluating the long term potential for new ventures,

initiating their development and identifying and developing

appropriate alliances. During her 10 years at Hughes Elec-

tronics she worked on every acquisition and new business

that the company considered during her time there. She can

be reached at: elisabeth@satellitemarkets.com

Satellite Executive Briefing 15 October 2011

A s reported in my previous col-

umn, for the satellite industry

the recent IBC show in Amster-dam kicked-off with a September 8th

pre-event Summit of critical importance

to the industry and to the wider satellite

communications end-user community –

the International Satellite Industry Fo-

rum on “Interference - The Counter

Offensive”. Much has happened since

this Summit, and key aspects of the RFI

mitigation agenda set-out in this meet-

ing continue to be explored, explained,

and actioned around the world.

As revealed at the Summit, and as de-

tailed in a press release issued during

IBC within the days following the pre-

show meeting, EUTELSAT announced

their plan to implement a new quality

assurance initiative for DVB satellite

transmissions, a development spear-

headed in collaboration with broadcast-

ers and satellite industry groups, and

which may also have a near-future im-

pact on satellite data and Internet traf-fic, in addition to video.

This breakthrough on the quality assur-

ance of DVB over satellite, announced

by Eutelsat to employ Carrier ID tech-

nology, and to be implemented in time

for the 2012 Olympic Games, is part of

a broader umbrella of global initiatives

directed at safeguarding satellite signals

and services, and which is supported by

global and regional associations in the

satellite sector.

In addition to GVF, these initiatives are

being led by sIRG (satellite Interference

Reduction Group), WBU-ISOG (World

Broadcasting Unions-International Sat-

ellite Operations Group), RFI-EUI

(Radio Frequency Interference-End

User Initiative), and other key organiza-

tions.

From June 30th 2012 Carrier Identifica-tion will be integrated into transmission

parameters for all SNG transmissions

and new DVB broadcasts using simple

firmware enhancements to existing op-

erational uplink equipment. Such en-

hancements have already been devel-

oped by key satellite ground equipment

manufacturers, enabling Eutelsat to

more efficiently identify transmissions to its satellites and accelerate coordina-

tion with earth station operators.

A few days prior to preparing this col-

umn, the Asia-Pacific region saw its

own collaboration between various na-

tional, regional, and global satellite in-

dustry groups with the announcement of

various quality-assurance plans during

an Interference-Prevention Summit at

the APSCC (Asia Pacific Satellite Com-

munications Council) 2011 conference in Bali.

GVF and sIRG, in collaboration with

the Indonesian Satellite Industry Asso-

ciation (ASSI), outlined a four-point

plan – already in the process of being

implemented in several Asian nations –

to include the following initiatives: (i)

training, (ii) product quality assurance,

(iii) spectrum management, and (iv)

carrier ID. The first three of these facets

are designed to help prevent interfer-

ence, while the fourth aims to help in-

dustry more effectively respond when

interference incidents occur.

Reflecting on the present exponential

growth in Asian regional demand for

satellite communications services a

joint statement from ASSI, GVF, and

sIRG noted that ―it is time for the indus-

try to provide even higher assurances of

quality of service.‖ The statement con-

tinued, ―Strengthening skills, product

performance, spectrum management,

and satellite operator's ability to react to interference incidents will enable the

industry to continue to provide the high

level of service that users have come to

expect.‖

Initial successes in the quality of service

arena are already being realized:

(i) Training & Certification: Training

Centers have been established in Indo-

nesia, India, Thailand, and Australia,

and VSAT Installation Certification of

personnel is underway.

(ii) Product Quality Assurance: Test-

ing of earth station equipment is being conducted by satellite operators and

through co-ordination of industry.

(iii) Spectrum Management: Advo-

cacy for protection of satellite frequen-

cies – including C, Ku, L and Ka-band

– is being coordinated, and the Indone-

sian and other governments have begun

to respond favorably.

(iv) Carrier ID: Several manufacturers have now incorporated a carrier ID ca-

pability in their earth station equipment

and discussion is underway regarding

potential launch dates.

The next in this series of meetings is

scheduled to be held this month in New

York City. GVF, sIRG, WBU-ISOG

and RFI-EUI will hold the Satellite In-

terference-Mitigation Forum on Octo-

ber 11th, the day preceding SATCON

2011. HBO will host the Forum, which will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., pro-

viding an opportunity to learn about the

latest solutions being applied to im-

prove quality of service and reduce op-

erational costs. Thus, global action in

the industry challenge to RFI continues

as we collectively strive towards the

foundation of a global consensus.

Feature

Interference : The Counter-Offensive

by Martin Jarrold

Martin Jarrold is Direc-tor of International Pro-grams of the GVF. He can be reached at: martin.jarrold@gvf.org

“...it is time for the industry to provide even higher assurances of quality of service...”

October 2011 16 Satellite Executive Briefing

Products and Services MarketProducts and Services MarketProducts and Services MarketPlacePlacePlace

A guide to key products and services showcased at the SATCON 2011 exhibition in New York City, from October 12-13, 2011.

AVCOM of Virginia Booth no. 713 www.avcomofva.com

AVCOM of Virginia is a vertically integrated company

with over 25 years of experi-

ence in designing and manu-

facturing high quality, low

cost spectrum analyzers.

AVCOM continued to develop and produce a variety of re-

ceivers and satellite accessories throughout the early 1980‘s.

Their catalog included products such as power dividers,

60dB isolators, DC blocks, low loss microwave cable assem-

blies as well as other more sophisticated products such as the PTR-24 test receiver, the TISH-40 terrestrial interference

survey horn and the WCA-4 waveguide adapter.

At SATCON, AVCOM of Virginia will be launching its

new SBS-2 Single Board, an upgrade of its very successful

AVCOM SBS Single Board Spectrum Analyzer. The SBS-2

comes with more features in an even smaller, more compact

form factor than it's predecessor. Come see the SBS-2 at

Booth #713.

AvL Technologies Booth no. 501 www.avltech.com

AvL Technologies designs and manufac-

tures mobile, motorized antenna systems

and positioners featuring high performance

carbon fibre reflectors, auto-acquisition controllers, and the

unique AvL cable drive system. Ideal for small aperture an-

tennae, it boasts zero backlash, high stiffness, light weight

ruggedness, reliability, and cost effectiveness. AvL has de-

signed and developed SNG antennae for 1.0M,1.2M,

1.4M,1.6M, 2.0M and 2.4M apertures and a diverse product

line of rugged motorized FlyAway packages, many available

in back-pack configurations, some as small as to meet airline requirements for cabin baggage. AvL, now recognized as the

leading producer of SNG antenna systems in the USA and

fast becoming known worldwide, developed the first motor-

ised, auto-acquisition Mobile VSAT antenna system de-

signed specifically for IP broadcast. AvL has over fifteen

thousand high-quality antennae for C-band, X,-band, Ku-

band, DBS-band, and Ka-band in service throughout the

world for SNG, military, emergency communications, disas-

ter management, mobile medicine, and other speciality ap-

plications.

ATCi Booth no. 705 www.atci.com

ATCi, founded in 1979, offers end-to-end

systems integration and technical services.

From front-end consulting and planning, to integrating, installing, coordinating and

managing technology solutions, ATCi has

the depth and experience to respond to

unique challenges and opportunities. Based upon the experi-

ence and expertise ATCi has gained through hundreds of

successful installations, the communications challenge is

turned into a success for its customer. Regardless of the sys-

tem requirements, we create complete end-to-end solutions.

ATCi introduces Simulsat5b - the newest multibeam system

capable of receiving transmissions from 35+ satellites simul-

taneously. Simulsat has been providing programming to over 30 million cable subscribers in the U.S. market making

ATCi the world leader in multibeam technology.

Comtech Xicom Booth no. 404 www.xicomtech.com Comtech Xicom Technology, Inc., a technology leader in

high power amplifier products for satellite communications,

will be showcasing at IBC its new high efficiency 400 Watt

Ku-Band traveling wave tube amplifier (TWTA) with the

size, weight and prime-power requirements of traditional

200 Watt products.

The XTD-400KHE high power amplifier (HPA) is a com-

pact, antenna mountable

TWTA designed for high linear power with outstandingly high

efficiency. The new amplifier is

in a compact, rugged package

weighing only 32 pounds.

Drawing only 960W at 200W

of linear RF output power, the

amplifier is ideal for transportable applications where high

efficiency, light weight, and high ambient temperature op-

eration are required.

Dev America LP Booth no. 637 www.dev-america.com For the first time DEV America will present its powerful

Satellite Executive Briefing 17 October 2011

solutions for RF over fiber, coax and

IFLs. At SatCon 2011 in New York. We

invite you to visit us on our Stand No.

637.

We will show you the best of our RF

transmission products from Dish to Rack

and Back, including:

Our brand new Core Function Product Series (CFP)

which offers up to 70% costs savings for Splitters,

Switches and Combiners.

DEV‘s Optribution series for RF over fiber with unbeat-

able high density. Up to 20 optical slots for up to 40

signals in 3 RU only save cost and rack space and mini-

mize risks while giving you more functionality, reliabil-

ity and flexibility.

Our latest Software developments for the Optribution

product family: Signal Recording helps you to analyze quickly the signal properties.

GlobeCast Booth no. 724 www.globecast.com

GlobeCast is a leading

provider of media man-

agement and global con-

tent delivery services for broadcasters and content creators.

With a secure fiber and satellite network connected to doz-

ens of teleports, technical operations centers, and points-of-

presence worldwide, GlobeCast manages and transports mil-

lions of hours of video and other rich media each year. An

integrator of audiovisual technology and a full service pro-

vider, GlobeCast works with all the actors in the audiovisual

chain from production companies to broadcasters, retail or-

ganizations, cinema chains, and more. The company pro-vides on-site service from major news and sporting events

for coverage in SD, HD, or even 3D.

GlobeCast will be speaking to broadcasters and content crea-

tors from around the world at SATCON at booth #724, about

the global distribution, media asset management, and play-

out of international content for broadcasters.

The content management and delivery company will have

staff on hand to speak directly to the needs of broadcasters

looking to repurpose and expand distribution of content

throughout the Americas and beyond to multiple platforms.

Videos and demonstrations will illustrate media asset man-

agement and playout, including the ability to localize and

repurpose content for any platform, any screen.

In addition, GlobeCast will be highlighting its expanded

satellite and fiber network, with new points of presence and

facilities around the world — including the Americas.

Globecomm Systems Booth no. 725 www.globecommsystems.com

Globecomm is one of the

world‘s largest

providers of satellite-based managed network solutions. Its

presence at IBC includes demonstrations on how broadcast-

ers, governments and corporations are successfully using

hosted and managed communications services in the control

room, on the ground, at sea and in the air.

Globecomm broadcasts content for major entertainment net-

works and recently landed a deal to provide broadcast deliv-

ery services with QVC, one of the largest home shopping channels. Globecomm tops 100 channels and logged more

than one million broadcast hours of HD and SD content.

Hispamar Satélites Booth no. 618 www.hispamar.com.br

Covering all of the Americas,

Hispamar Satélites – a His-

pasat Group company – offers

an extensive range of satellite

communication services through the Amazonas 1 and Ama-

zonas 2 satellites: IP, Broadcast, Corporate, Telecom, Gov-ernment, Distance Learning, Telemedicine and Digital Sign-

age. Amazonas 1 and Amazonas 2 are two of the biggest and

most powerful satellites serving the American Continent and

operate collocated at 61º W offering both C- and Ku-band

capacity, with immediate availability of high quality Ku-

band capacity for North America. Hispamar also offers the

state of the art AMERHIS technology on board Amazonas 1

& 2 satellites which allows connections between VSATs

located at any place in the American continent through a

single hop, thereby eliminating the need of a hub station.

The SPACECONNECTION Booth no. 816 www.thespaceconnection.com

The SPACECONNECTION is a

global provider of satellite services

and connectivity solutions. We

serve a diverse community of me-

dia, broadcast, enterprise and military customers who de-

pend on us to go the extra mile to deliver high quality end-to

-end solutions that are reliable and cost effective. Well be-

yond a basic price quote, we deliver industry expertise, value-added global industry relationships, personalized analysis

and best-in-class solutions. Because we are an equitable so-

lution, not a satellite operator focused on providing their

own solution, customers can feel confident we are 100%

dedicated to fulfilling their needs.

October 2011 18 Satellite Executive Briefing

SES Booth no. 509 www.ses.com

SES is a world-leading satellite operator, providing reliable and secure satellite

communications solutions to broadcast,

telecom, corporate and government cus-

tomers worldwide. SES owns and operates a fleet of 49

geostationary satellites that are complemented by a network

of teleports and offices located around the globe. This far-

reaching infrastructure enables our customers to reach 99%

of the world‘s population and places SES at the heart of the

global communications chain.

Walton De-Ice Booth no. 330 www.de-ice.com

Walton De-Ice designs and manu-

factures the broadest line of equip-

ment available for preventing the

accumulation of snow and/or ice on

satellite earth station antennas.

At SATCON, Walton De-ice will be

providing demos of its Ice Quake Sys-tem. The Ice Quake system (U.S. patent

pending) enhances the reliability of de-

ice and snowshield systems by a factor

of 100 percent.

Wavestream Booth no. 325 www.wavestream.com At SATCON Wavestream will be showcasing its new

indoor and outdoor PowerStream® 400W C-band solid state power amplifiers that are plug and play replacements

for traditional unlinearized 750W Traveling Wave Tube

Amplifier (TWTA) prod-

ucts used in satellite

communications, teleport

and satellite news gather-

ing systems. The new

PowerStream 454C-i and

454C-o products comple-

ment Wavestream‘s

600W C-band product family, and provide a lower

power, cost effective solid state solution to support appli-

cations where larger antennas or more powerful satellites

are used.

Products and Services MarketProducts and Services MarketProducts and Services MarketPlacePlacePlace

C-Band PowerStream 454C-o

The Satellite Technology Guide for

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The Satellite Technology Guide for the 21st Century clearly explains in non-technical terms the basics of satel-

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Chapters include:

A Brief History of the Satellite Industry

Overview of the Satellite Communications

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The Space Segment

The Ground Segment

Satellite Services

VSATs

Satellites and the Internet

The Future of Satellite Communications

To order copies go to

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Satellite Executive Briefing 19 October 2011

October 2011 20 Satellite Executive Briefing

T his column was nearly entitled, ―In Praise of Intel-

sat.‖ But I knew people would either not read it, ac-

cusing me of being a shill for the satellite industry, or would pore over it hoping it was an ironic title, and that I

would write a funny piece intended to bash the world‘s larg-

est satellite operator.

Neither is true. I believe that the satellite industry is the

greatest industry on earth, but only because the facts bear it

out. I also believe that there are many good reasons to praise

Intelsat with a straight face. Many. The company may now

and then need a personality transplant. Who doesn‘t? For

example, its relationship with the teleport industry is

strained, but steps are being taken to create an awareness of

what may be at stake if it escalates. Increasingly, I observe that the company is often merely a target of envy, much like

the New York Yankees (America‘s most lucrative and suc-

cessful sporting franchise.) If you win often and win aggres-

sively, watch out. Everyone has you in their sights. It is

human nature.

But now and then the truth about a company‘s real core

comes from the voice or gesture of its CEO or chairman.

The FSS CEO panel at the World Summit for Satellite Fi-

nance concluded here in Paris a few minutes ago in the ele-

gant Westin hotel. This event, produced by Euroconsult, is one of the great events on our calendar. But naturally these

events migrate into an echo chamber after a few days. Peo-

ple are enclosed and deprived of sunlight for days. Ideas,

opinions and rumors circulate like the air in the hotel HVAC

system.

What also circulates are the usual grumbles and groans. It is

so today among a handful of the 400 or so in attendance.

The grumbles are predictable, and to some degree right.

―They never say anything of substance.‖

―They are so boring.‖

―They said that at Satellite in DC.‖

―They all say they want to keep pricing down and capacity

available. Bull…!‖

Any little sign of conflict or jabbing at each other brings the

audience to life. Like Romans in the Coliseum, we want

blood. I understand. CEOs are easy targets because they run

companies and have great authority over many of us. Busi-

ness is a blood sport in many ways and fear can be prevalent

in it. We are all adults and it is not always easy to earn our

daily loaves.

However, this year there were several moments when I again

found the seam which binds this industry to its true mission.

It is a powerful thing to hear. This time it came what many

would consider a throw-away remark from Intelsat‘s Dave

McGlade.

Speaking about the degree to which the downsizing of major

military conflicts will impact the revenues of operators, Dave

joined his colleagues and noted that much of what we do is

to use our technologies for other military support functions.

These are less likely to go away.

When pushed a bit, he showed his true emotion and passion.

He replied, ―Our work takes kids out of harm‘s way. Tech-

nology in service of military operations is good when it does

this and it is something our companies and our nations

should be very proud of. We should think about that!‖

I thought, yes, let that one bounce inside the echo chambers

and get posted to blogs, websites and columns for the next

year or so. If you are keeping a list on your refrigerator or

your laptop of the true virtues of the satellite industry,

PLEASE PUT THAT ONE IN ALL CAPS.

As you might expect, a cynic said outside that it was proba-

bly ―scripted.‖ In fact, it was not because I congratulated

him on the remarks and he wanted to elaborate further. It

was right straight du coeur. It kept the satellite industry right

on mission.

Lou Zacharilla extols on the virtues of the satellite industry from the Satellite Business Week conference

Opinion

One Idea for the Echo Chamber

by Lou Zacharilla “..the satellite industry is the greatest

industry on earth, but only because the

facts bear it out…”

Lou Zacharilla is the Director of De-velopment of the Society of Satellite Professionals International (SSPI). He can be reached at: LZacharilla@sspi.org

Satellite Executive Briefing 21 October 2011

October 2011 22 Satellite Executive Briefing

IndustryIndustryIndustryBriefsBriefsBriefs

Major industry news and developments

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

United Technologies Acquires Goodrich Corporation

United Technologies announced it has

reached agreement to purchase Good-

rich Corporation for $127.50 per share

in cash. This equates to a total enter-

prise value of $18.4 billion, including

$1.9 billion in net debt assumed. United

Technologies expects to finance the

transaction through a combination of

debt and equity issuance. The equity

component is expected to approximate

25 percent of the total. The closing is subject to customary closing conditions,

including regulatory and Goodrich

shareholder approvals.

Following completion of the transac-tion, United Technologies is expected

to have worldwide sales of approxi-

mately $66 billion based on projected

2011 results. The combined company's

increased scale, financial strength and

c om pl em en t a r y p r oduct s wi l l

strengthen United Technologies' posi-

tion in the aerospace and defense indus-

try.

Goodrich is a global supplier of sys-

tems and services to the aerospace and

defense industry. Its products include

aircraft landing gear, aircraft wheels

and brakes. Goodrich, with estimated

2011 sales of $8 billion, serves a global customer base with 27,000 employees

worldwide. Goodrich was a prime con-

tractor to the Pentagon‘s Operationally

Responsive Space (ORS-1) imaging

and surveillance satellite.

Iunctus Acquires RapidEye

RapidEye Canada Ltd., an affiliate of

Canadian optical satellite imagery pro-

vider Iunctus Geomatics Corp., an-

nounced that it has acquired the assets

RapidEye AG of Brandenburg an der

Havel, Germany, a provider of high-

resolution imagery and geospatial solu-

tions. RapidEye AG which has just

emerged from bankruptcy proceedings.

RapidEye's five identical Earth Obser-vation satellites were launched from

Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan

on August 29, 2008. RapidEye and

Iunctus will provide a complete geoin-

formation value chain and will focus on

customer relationships and developing

strong partnerships, according to a

company statement.

John Clark Joins Artel as VP, Product Development

Artel Video Systems announced the

appointment of John Clark to the newly

created position of Vice President of

Product Development. Clark joins Artel

after more than 30 years of experience

in hardware development for the video, image processing, telecommunications

and cable industries. Clark will report

directly to Richard Dellacanonica,

president of Artel Video Systems.

Clark has a broad background in prod-

uct development and management

within the New England high tech mar-

ketplace. He joins Artel from BigBand

Networks, an industry leader in digital

video networking for the CATV indus-

try where he was Vice President of Hardware Development. Clark has also

held senior management positions at

Verso Technologies, Motorola /

Winphoria Networks, and was a found-

ing member of Ignitus Communications

which was acquired by Lucent Tech-

nologies. He holds a bachelor‘s degree

in engineering from Daniel Webster

College.

WTA Appoints New Directors The World Teleport Association

(WTA) announced the appointment of

three new members to its Board of

Directors during its September Board

meeting. Adrian Ballintine, CEO of

Newsat in Australia, Tomaz Lovsin,

Managing Director of STN in Slovenia,

and Bill Tillson, President and COO of

Encompass Digital Media, headquar-tered in the U.S., were named to fill

new seats created by an expansion of

the Board approved by WTA‘s mem-

bers.

Adrian Ballintine is the

Founder and Chief Ex-

ecutive Officer of

NewSat Limited. With

over 30 years of global

technology experience

and extensive knowl-edge of the satellite

industry, Ballintine

has successfully managed a number of

technology start-ups prior to NewSat.

Ballintine was instrumental in the re-

cent acquisition of the rights to seven

premium orbital slots, which signifi-

cantly progresses NewSat towards the

launch of their fleet of next generation

geostationary satellites as part of

NewSat‘s Jabiru Satellite Program. He was named 2011 Teleport Executive of

the Year by WTA.

Tomaz Lovsin, Managing Director,

STN has extensive knowledge of all

aspects of the technical infrastructure

and day-to-day challenges that occur in

the teleport business. He was instru-

mental in the planning, purchasing and

oversight of STN's current system inte-

gration business, which today covers

over 400 TV & Radio channels, IPTV & Point to Point IP backbone links for

clients spanning the globe.

Bill Tillson President and COO of En-

compass Digital Media, has built an

extensive career in broadcast facilities

and operations, overseeing the launch

of more than 200 cable television net-

works in North America, Asia, Latin

America and Europe and negotiating

facilities and transponder transactions in excess of $2.5 billion. Tillson is also

the founder, CEO and principal of

Broadcast Cable Services Inc.

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Adrian Ballintine

Satellite Executive Briefing 23 October 2011

October 2011 24 Satellite Executive Briefing

Satellite Executive Briefing 25 October 2011

Industry Briefs

Dev Systemtechnik Appoints

Area Sales Maanger

DEV Systemtechnik GmbH & Co. KG

a manufacturer of satellite and cable

transmission equipment and parent

company of Newport

Beach-based DEV Amer-

ica, has appointed Cyrille

Mvondo Mvondo as Area

Sales Manager for

France, Spain, Portugal

and Africa. Based in DEV‘s headquarters

in Friedberg, Germany, Mvondo

Mvondo reports to Rainer Lorger, Head

of Sales and Marketing.

Cyrille Mvondo Mvondo joins DEV

from Eaton Corporation, a global sup-

plier of system components for the

manufacturing, automotive and aero-

space industries. With roots in Camer-

oon, Africa, Mvondo Mvondo has a degree in Electrical Engineering from

the University of Applied Sciences in

Cologne, Germany, and Luxembourg,

and a Master of Business Administra-

tion in Strategic Management from the

University of Applied Sciences Bonn-

Rhein-Sieg, Germany.

Prof. Hoffmann Appointed SES Chair, Univ. of

Luxembourg

Professor Dr. Mahulena Hofmann has

been appointed as the SES Chair in Sat-

ellite Communications and Media Law

at the University of Luxembourg. Her

term began on September 1, 2011.

Prior to her appointment at the Univer-

sity of Luxembourg, Dr. Hofmann, a

German and Czech national, was the

holder of the Jean Monnet Chair in

European Law and Transition Studies at

the Faculty of Law, Justus Liebig Uni-

versity of Giessen. At the same time she

served as a Senior Research Fellow at

the renowned Max Planck Institute for

Comparative Public Law and Interna-

tional Law where her research activities were in the field of International Space

and Telecommunications Law, as well

as the public law of Central and Eastern

European countries. Member of the

European Centre for Space Law and an

Expert Committee of the Council of

Europe dealing with regional and mi-nority languages, she has a rich scien-

tific profile encompassing all aspects of

Satellite Communication and Media

Law (International, European and com-

parative).

Professor Hofmann holds a PhD on Remote Sensing of the Earth from

Space - Legal Aspects from Charles

University, Prague and a ‗habilitation

thesis‘ on The Position of International

and European Law in the Legal Systems

of the Transformation Countries of

Central and Eastern Europe from the

University of Cologne. She is a full

member of the International Astronauti-

cal Academy.

IAI Appoints New Chairman

Satellite manufacturer Israel Aerospace

Industries' (IAI) Board of Directors has

appointed a new chair-

man, Mr. Don Baharav.

Baharav was President

and CEO of Amdocs

Management Ltd. and a member of the Amdocs

Board of Directors and

its Executive Commit-

tee from 2002 to the end of 2010.

Baharav became CEO of Amdocs dur-

ing the 2001 world economic crisis. He

quickly returned the company to growth

and more than doubled its revenues

from $1.4 billion to over $3 billion.

Baharav joined Amdocs in 1991 as Vice

President and was appointed Chief Fi-nancial Officer (CFO) in 1995, a posi-

tion he held until being named President

and CEO.

Prior to joining Amdocs, Baharav acted

as Chief Operating Officer of Optrotech

Ltd., a publicly held company that de-

velops, manufactures and markets elec-

tro-optical devices.

Don Baharav

Cyrille Myondo

SSPI Announce 2011 Promise and Mentor Award Winners

The Society of Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) has selected three out-

standing honorees with its 2011 Promise Awards, which recognize the potential of

young satellite professionals to play a leadership role in the industry. The winners

are:

David Giger, Director, Dragon Spacecraft Development and Director, Dragon Propulsion, SpaceX

Bradley Patterson, Senior Project Manager, Intelsat

Rohit Iyer Seshadri, Senior Member, Technical Staff, Hughes Network Systems

Tom Eaton, President, Harris CapRock, was selected as SSPI‘s "Mentor Award‖ recipient, for his exemplary efforts to mentor the next generation of satellite pro-

fessionals.

The recipients will be honored during SSPI‘s 6th annual Future Leaders Dinner on

October 12 at The Princeton Club in midtown Manhattan. The Future Leaders

Dinner begins at 6:00 p.m. (ET) with a cocktail reception. A portion of the pro-

ceeds from the banquet and awards ceremony goes to SSPI‘s educational fund for

scholarship and intern grants for students seeking careers in the satellite industry.

In addition to the four honorees, SSPI makes honorable mention of four additional

young professionals: Adam Mayer, Mechanical Systems Engineer, Spacecraft Systems Engineering, Space Systems/Loral; Tyler Moeller, Senior Engineer,

Level 2 Support, Intelsat Video Operations Center; Ben Ramos, Senior Director,

Field Operations, FOX News; and Richard Roithner, Senior Consultant, Eurocon-

sult.

October 2011 26 Satellite Executive Briefing

MarketMarketMarketBriefsBriefsBriefs

Key industry trends and opportunities.

How Service Providers May Gain or Lose from the

Interactive TV Revolution

Laurent, Quebec, Canada, September 26, 2011--Global

telecom services revenue reached US$1.9 trillion in 2010,

representing a 4.5% increase, an improvement compared

with 2009, when revenue growth had declined to 3.8%, ac-

cording to a new report by Hot Telecom. Growth is expected to decline again starting in 2011 up to 2016 and telecom

service revenue growth is therefore projected to slow to a

five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.5%

and revenue is expected to reach US$2.1 trillion in 2015,

having surpassed the US$2.0 trillion mark in 2013.

By year-end 2010, the global aggregate number of fixed, mobile and Internet subscribers grew by 10.8% to over 7.2

billion. Nevertheless, for the first time in 2011, the growth

in total telecom subscribers should drop into the single digits

to 7.7%. This is mainly due to the fact that many regions are

nearing saturation in each of these sectors. The growth in the

number of total telecom subscribers should continue to slow

over the forecasted period with a forecasted CAGR of 5.1%

over the next 5 years to nearly 9.2 billion at the end of 2015.

The growth in number of subscribers will continue to mainly

be driven by new broadband and mobile connections.

This 83-page report, which includes 48 detailed exhibits on

the global market, confirms fixed broadband will continue to

be the fastest growing telecom sector, after mobile broad-

band, with a forecasted global CAGR of 6.7% over the next

5 years. The bulk of the broadband percentage growth will

continue to come from low broadband penetration regions

such as MEA, Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe.

With the proliferation of 3G phones, WiMax and LTE in the

coming years, broadband mobile is expected to be the fastest

growing segment over the next 5 years.

When analysing the global telecom market on a regional

basis, Asia is the largest region by far and now represents

47.4%, 49.0%, 37.3% and 37.5% of the world‘s fixed, mo-

bile, Internet and broadband subscribers respectively. MEA

will continue to suffer from the lowest penetration rate in all

segments, with penetration rates as low as 7.5%, 61.5%, 3.3% and 1.4% in the fixed, mobile, Internet and broadband

sectors respectively in 2010.

New York, NY, September 30, 2011-

Few can argue that the traditional busi-

ness of linear television is morphing.

Services are changing – from HDTV to

3DTV – while platforms are multiply-ing to encompass Internet delivery to

the computer or tablet, streaming to the

handheld device, download to PVRs,

and over-the-top services that embed a

Web browser and Internet-delivered

content into the familiar TV set. This is

the subject of a new report by the World

Teleport Association, Future TV and

the Teleport.

The report seeks to highlight the aspects

of today‘s TV revolution most likely to

affect teleport operators and other ser-

vice providers, to explore the threats

and potential opportunities it will create

and to offer advice on what service pro-

viders can do today to defend against

the downside and seize the upside.

The report explores how the global tele-

vision industry may change as a result, and how demand for content manage-

ment and delivery services will change

along with it.

WTA Executive Director Robert Bell

notes, ―The business of broadband de-

livery is going to become massively more important to content distribution

companies of every stripe. It is likely to

become an increasingly competitive

business at the same time that the

"walled garden" approach to delivering

exclusive content comes under increas-

ing pressure. Most of the service pro-

viders surveyed for this report saw a

silver lining in

the rising

c om p l e x i t y

and uncer-

tainty about the future of

TV. They

expect it to be

a net positive

for the com-

panies that

host, manage

and distribute video.‖

Future TV and the Teleport is available

free to WTA members from the WTA

website at www.worldteleport.org.

Non-members may purchase a copy of

the report from the site as well.

Global Telecom Revenues to Reach

US$ 2.1 Trillion by 2016

Satellite Executive Briefing 27 October 2011

October 2011 28 Satellite Executive Briefing

Mobile Internet will Overtake Fixed Users

A new report by IDATE entitled

“World Internet Usage and

Markets” forecasts that mobile

internet users will overtake

fixed users by 2016.

Globally, the number of users

of fixed Internet will continue

to grow at a steady pace,

reaching 2.3 billion in 2015”,

comments Sophie Lubrano,

Project Leader and IDATE’s

Director of Studies. “Users of

mobile Internet services will

progress even more rapidly,

however, and should reach 2.6

billion in 2015. This growth is

fuelled by emerging markets,

particularly China.”

Source: IDATE.

Satellite Executive Briefing 29 October 2011

Amos Spacecom…………………………..……….24

www.amos-spacecom.com

AVCOM of Virginia…………………….…….…...5

www.avcomofva.com

AVL Technologies…………………..….…….…...31

www.avltech.com

ATCi………………………………….….…....…...24

www.atci.com

CommunicAsia 2012...............................................21

www.communicasia.com

Comtech Xicom.........................................................8

www.xicomtech.com/

Dev America............................................................12

www.dev-america.com

Globecomm Systems……………………....……...32

www.globecommsystems.com

Hispamar Satélites…………………..…....……...11

www.hispamar.com.br

Milcom 2011…………………………...…...….....23

www.milcom.org

The SpaceConnection………….............cover and 2

www.thespaceconnection.com

Walton De-Ice........................................................19

www.de-ice.com

Wavestream.............................................................7

www.wavestream.com

Work Microwave...................................................27

www.work-microwave.de

ADVERTISERS’ INDEX

October 12-13, 2011 SATCON 2011, Javits Convention

Center, New York City, USA, Tel: +1 (203) 371-6322 E-

mail: info@jdevents.com web: www.satconexpo.com/

October 13-15, 2011, SCAT India 2011, World Trade

Center, Mumbai, India, Tel: +91-22-2494 8280

E-mail: scatmag@scatmag.com

web: www.scatmag.com/scatindia

October 31-November 3, 2011, CASBAA Convention

2011, Grand Hyatt Hotel, Hong Kong, Tel. +852-2854 9913

E-mail: casbaa@casbaa.com web: http://events.casbaa.com/

convention2011/

November 7-10, 2011 MILCOM 2011: “Networks...

Attaining the Value‖, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, Contact

person: AFCEA Plans Department,

Email: milcom@afcea.org Tel: +1.703.631.6170 web: www.milcom.org

November 22-23, 2011, GVF Oil & Gas Communications

South East Asia 2011, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,

Tel: +44 (0)20 8342 8159

Email: martin.jarrold@gvf.org & paul.stahl@uk-emp.co.uk

web: www.uk-emp.co.uk/13th.O&GSEA.2011/

December 13-15, 2011 DoD Commercial SATCOM

Users' Workshop, Crystal Gateway Marriot, Arlington,

Virginia, USA, web: www.dodsatcom.com

Calendar of Events

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October 2011 30 Satellite Executive Briefing

The Satellite Markets 25 IndexTM is a composite of 25 publicly-traded satellite companies worldwide with five compa-nies representing each major market segment of the industry: satellite operators; satellite and component manufactur-ers; ground equipment manufacturers; satellite service providers and consumer satellite services. The base data for the Satellite Markets IndexTM is January 2, 2008--the first day of operation for Satellite Market and Research. The Index equals 1,000. The Satellite Markets IndexTM provides a benchmark to gauge the overall health of the satellite industry.

© 2011 Satellite Markets and Research, Satellite Executive Briefing and the Satellite Markets IndexTM are trademarks of Synthesis Publications LLC. Synthesis Publica-tions LLC is the owner of the trademark, service marks and copyrights related to the Index. This newsletter does not constitute an offer of an investment product. Satel-

lite Executive Briefing makes no representation regarding the advisability of investing based on the information provided in the Satellite Markets IndexTM. All information is provided ‘as is’ for information purposes only and is not intended for trading purpose or advice. Neither Satellite Executive Briefing nor any related party is liable for any informational error, incompleteness or for any actions taken based on information contained herein.

Stock Index

Satellite Executive Briefing 31 October 2011

October 2011 32 Satellite Executive Briefing