New Skies Names Consultant As First CEO
New Skies Satellites N.V., the for-profit, Amsterdam-based company spun off by Intelsat to provide video and other telecommunication services via satellite, named broadcasting consultant Robert Ross as its first CEO. Since 1996, Ross had led his own consultancy, Atlanta-based SatTeleNet. Prior to launching that venture, he spent 14 years with Turner Broadcasting System in a number of key positions. He was president of Turner International Inc. between 1994 and 1996, when he supervised 300 employees worldwide. Ross pledged to develop New Skies into the world's premier satellite broadcasting organization. (Terry Seddon, New Skies, 01636-892458.)
DirecTv Expands Commercial Programming To Bars And Restaurants
DirecTv Inc. [GMH], the nation's largest direct broadcast satellite (DBS) service provider, signed an agreement to deliver programming to 10 large restaurant and bar chains. The pacts will allow DirecTv to serve more than 500 locations nationwide and participate in marketing efforts to promote the eateries and bars of Chili's, El Torito, Bertucci's Inc., Chi-Chi's, On The Border and others. Terms of the deal were not released. Damon's, one of the restaurants that is part of the deal, began featuring DirecTv wrestling programming on typically slow Sunday nights and tripled its business for those evenings over the past four or five months. The chain now plans to increase the number of its restaurants that use DirecTv to 120 locations by September. (Bob Marsocci, DirecTv, 310/726-4656.)
SkyBridge Demonstrates Its Service Can Share Ku-Band Spectrum With DBS
SkyBridge, a proposed satellite-based broadband service, conducted a demonstration recently before officials of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to show that the Ku-band it plans to use to offer its services starting in 2001 will not suffer from interference problems. Opponents of the SkyBridge proposal claim its service would disrupt transmissions of other Ku-band services.
To win ITU support, SkyBridge staged a demonstration that showed direct broadcast satellite (DBS) signals could be received without any interference using the provisional power limits set by the 1997 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-97). The ITU meeting addressed technical aspects of the WRC-97 to allow non-geostationary orbit (NSO) satellite systems, such as SkyBridge, to share frequencies with geostationary satellite systems and terrestrial systems in the Ku-band. (Ephraim Cohen, Edelman Worldwide, 212/768-0550.)
DirecTv, NDS Win $31 Million Judgment
DirecTv Inc. [GMH] and NDS Americas Inc. (NDS) won $31 million in damages from 15 defendants whom the U.S. District Court in Seattle ruled had violated federal law by trafficking in counterfeit digital satellite system access cards. The decision stems from a June 1996 lawsuit by DirecTv and NDS that accused the defendants of engaging in an international conspiracy to develop, manufacture, distribute and sell counterfeit access cards and other devices to let owners of digital satellite systems illegally receive programming from DirecTv and United States Satellite Broadcasting [USSB]. The court also issued a permanent injunction barring the defendants from participating in future piracy activities. The same court previously had awarded DirecTv and NDS damages of roughly $3 million. The combined $34 million ranks among the largest monetary penalties in video signal theft history.
DirecTv identified the prime defendants that were ordered to pay damages as: Jim Gallucio, of West Milford, N.J., a former authorized DirecTv retailer who must pay $9.38 million; Marty Mullen, of New London, Ontario, doing business as Cyber One and Studio One in the Cayman Islands, who must pay $5.09 million; David Balmes, of Las Vegas, who is ordered to pay $2.53 million; and a group of individuals and businesses led by Norman Dick, of Victoria, B.C. (Jeff Torkelson, DirecTv, 310/535-5062.)
Final Analysis Wins First NASA Quick Ride Contract
Final Analysis Inc. was awarded the first NASA Quick Ride contract to carry up to 10 science and technology secondary payloads aboard the company's low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites. The maximum value of the pact is $49 million. The Quick Ride program will offer scientists and universities a streamlined way to obtain low-cost, low-risk access to space for important flight experiments. NASA has pre-qualified the Little LEO's FAISAT satellites for these secondary payload missions.
Inmarsat Adds Kenya As 84th Member; Privatized Company Will Keep Headquarters In London
Kenya recently became the 84th member country of the global mobile satellite organization Inmarsat. Jan Mutai, managing director of Kenya Posts & Telecommunications Corp. (KPTC), signed the Inmarsat Convention and Operating Agreement at the International Maritime Organization's office in London. KPTC will serve as Kenya's signatory to the intergovernmental organization.
Meanwhile, Inmarsat has decided to keep its London headquarters after the organization privatizes. However, the exact legal structure the company would take remains under discussion. A holding company could be formed outside the United Kingdom to reduce Inmarsat's tax liability. An extraordinary meeting of Inmarsat has been scheduled for Aug. 20 to consider the sale or transfer of its next-generation Horizons project.
Qualcomm Introduces Vehicle Diagnostics Via Satellite
Qualcomm Inc. [QCOM] is introducing its JTACS Pro Vehicle Data Gateway product to give the trucking industry access to real-time, on-board vehicle diagnostics and monitoring. JTRACS uses Qualcomm's satellite-based OmniTRACS network to create a communication path to vehicle systems while a truck is en route. The product should allow users to cut down on the need for auto repairs.
"By monitoring the trucking company's parameters, JTRACS Pro will not only save our customers money but will assist them in ensuring that safety requirements are met," said Phil White, senior vice president and general manager of Qualcomm's OnmiTRACS division. (Karen Bowman, Qualcomm, 619/658-5870.)
Telstra MobileNet And Iridium To Deliver Global Roaming Benefits To Customers
Telstra MobileNet will team up with Iridium LLC [IRIDF] to deliver global roaming services to its digital customers by October. The deal will allow MobileNet's digital customers to make and receive calls anywhere in the world using a dual-mode satellite and cellular handset. Telstra also is working on a satellite roaming agreement with ICO Global Communications. MobileNet already has extensive international network coverage which enables roaming in 53 countries including 10 states in the United States and three Canadian provinces.
TMI Announces New Satellite Facsimile Service
TMI Communications has introduced its Satellite Facsimile Service, a new wireless communications service for Canada, the Caribbean and, pending regulatory approval, all 50 states and Mexico. The service works on a store-and-forward principle, offering flexibility to anyone outside wired urban areas who requires the ability to send or receive faxes. The service is aimed at the needs of oil and gas, mining, maritime, utility, construction, and leisure industries.