Satellite Television (DBS, DTH, DSat, DVB-S, DVB-S2) News

General Satellite Signs Memorandum of Understanding with Partner from Sri Lanka
Oct 7, 2011 – General Satellite and Sky Television & Radio Network have signed the Memorandum of Understanding to create a Joint Project in Sri Lanka. The Project is to become the largest Pay TV operator in the country, available across the whole island.
News categories: General Satellite, Satellite, Set Top Box, Sri Lanka

5 Million Italian Families Choose Sky
Oct 7, 2011 – Sky Italia (NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV) has announced that it has exceeded 5 million customers reaching 15 million people across Italy.
News categories: Sky Italia, Italy, Satellite, Subscribers

UOKiK releases report on pay TV in Poland
Oct 7, 2011 – Poland's Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) has issued a report on the country's pay TV market. Services are provided by satellite, cable and IPTV. Satellite has the largest number of subscribers with over 6 million.
News categories: UOKiK, Cable TV, IPTV, Market Research, Poland, Satellite, Subscribers

EU Court of Justice rules against prohibitions on the import, sale or use of foreign decoder cards
Oct 4, 2011 – A system of licences for the broadcasting of football matches which grants broadcasters territorial exclusivity on a Member State basis and which prohibits television viewers from watching the broadcasts with a decoder card in other Member States is contrary to EU law.
News categories: Court of Justice, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Conditional Access, Content Protection, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Digital TV, Estonia, EU, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Regulation, Romania, Satellite, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, UK

NXP Delivers Industry's Lowest Power Ku-Band Downconverters for Satellite TV Receivers
Sep 22, 2011 – NXP (NASDAQ: NXPI) has introduced the TFF101xHN, a family of downconverters for use in LNB 10.7-12.75GHz Ku band satellite receiver systems. The DVB-S compliant downconverters consume 50-percent less current than other integrated solutions.
News categories: NXP, ICs, LNB, Satellite, Semiconductor

Portugal's subscription TV market grows in Q2 2011
Sep 21, 2011 – According to Portugal's Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (ANACOM), in June, the total number of pay TV subscribers in Portugal reached about 2.85 million, increasing by 197 thousand compared to the 2nd quarter of 2010.
News categories: ANACOM, Cable TV, Digital TV, IPTV, Market Research, Mobile, Portugal, Satellite, Subscribers

French TNTSAT: Three Million Receivers Sold
Sep 21, 2011 – SES (Paris; Luxembourg: SESG) has announced that the French digital terrestrial offer on satellite, TNTSAT, broadcast via ASTRA, reached a total of three million receivers sold at the end of August. The TNTSAT offer was launched in March 2007.
News categories: TNTSAT, SES S.A., Digital TV, France, Market Research, Satellite, Set Top Box

40 Percent of Pay TV Cord Cutters Would Pay More for A La Carte
Sep 20, 2011 – Collectively, US Pay TV providers lost 400,000 subscribers in the second quarter--their single worst period in over three years. Cable TV took the brunt of the hit, though Satellite operators were not left unscathed.
News categories: Strategy Analytics, Cable TV, Market Research, Satellite, USA

Pace server hub to enable DIRECTV multiroom DVR service
Sep 19, 2011 – Pace (LSE: PIC) has announced that the company's HR34 server is the central hub in the DIRECTV (Nasdaq: DTV) Home Media Center, set to launch October 2011. The HR34 enables the satellite industry's first fully interconnected DVR experience.
News categories: Pace plc, DIRECTV, Digital TV, DVR, Gateway, Satellite, Smart Home, USA