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

Thomson sees U.S. satellite set-top box weakness
Oct 22, 2009 – Thomson (Paris: 18453, NYSE: TMS) has announced results for the quarter ending September 30, 2009. In the quarter Thomson saw weakness across all Connect markets, in particular in the North American market with low orders for satellite set-top boxes.
News categories: Thomson, Cable TV, IPTV, Results, Satellite, Set Top Box

Viasat adds 27,000 premium pay-TV subscribers in 3Q09
Oct 21, 2009 – MTG (OMX: MTGA, MTGB) has announced results for the period ended 30 September 2009. For the quarter, Viasat added 24,000 net premium IPTV and satellite (DTH) subscribers in the Nordic region, and 3,000 net DTH subscribers in the Baltics and Ukraine.
News categories: MTG, Baltics, Denmark, DVR, Finland, IPTV, Norway, Results, Satellite, Subscribers, Sweden, Ukraine

Meo surpasses 500 thousand customers
Oct 21, 2009 – Portugal Telecom (Lisbon: PTC; NYSE: PT) has announced that Meo, its pay-TV service, surpassed 500 thousand customers, representing circa 64% of PT's ADSL customers and 19% of its traffic generating lines, at the end of 2Q09.
News categories: Portugal Telecom, Digital TV, Fibre, IPTV, Portugal, Satellite, Subscribers

Digital Fly DTH begins test broadcasting in the Ukraine
Oct 20, 2009 – Ukraine's Digital Fly has begun test broadcasting of its digital TV service on satellite Thor 3 with the commercial launch expected to take place on November 15th this year.
News categories: Digital Fly, Digital TV, DVB-S2, DVR, Satellite, Ukraine

Record sales of digital satellite receivers in Germany
Oct 19, 2009 – According to the latest figures from GfK released by ASTRA Deutschland, in the first eight months of 2009, nearly 1.5 million digital satellite receiver were sold in Germany with a value of around 167 million euros.
News categories: ASTRA, GfK, Cable TV, Digital TV, Germany, Market Research, Satellite, Set Top Box, Terrestrial

Sky Italia to offer DVB-T USB stick for its HD STBs
Oct 19, 2009 – Sky Italia (NASDAQ and ASX: NWS) is planning to launch a DVB-T USB stick which will allow Sky HD and My Sky HD users to receive the free RAI and Mediaset channels that, since the launch of TivùSat, are no longer being broadcast by Sky Italia.
News categories: Sky Italia, Digital TV, DVR, Italy, Satellite, Set Top Box, Terrestrial

Slovak Telekom starts Magio TV DTH trial
Oct 16, 2009 – Slovak Telekom (Frankfurt: DTE, NYSE: DT) has taken preparatory steps towards launching satellite DTH in Slovakia. The company has registered the brand name MagioSat TV for the service and is running trials on the Amos 3 satellite at 4°W.
News categories: Slovak Telekom, Conditional Access, Digital TV, Satellite, Slovakia

More than 700 on-demand audiovisual services available in Europe
Oct 16, 2009 – The European Audiovisual Observatory and the Direction du développement des médias (France) have published a new study entitled Video on Demand and Catch-Up Television in Europe.
News categories: European Audiovisual Observatory, DDM, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cable TV, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Digital TV, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, IPTV, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Market Research, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Satellite, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Terrestrial, Turkey, UK

Mid Europa Partners Adds ITV Bulgaria to its SEE Pay TV Platform
Oct 9, 2009 – Mid Europa Partners has announced that the acquisition of the Bulgarian direct-to-home satellite pay TV operator Interaktivni Tehnologii AD (ITV) has been completed.
News categories: Interaktivni Tehnologii, Mid Europa Partners, Bulgaria, MandA, Satellite