SkyREPORT E-News
Tue, 03 Aug 2004 00:17:11 -0700
****** HBO ****** Your weekly stop on the way to election Real Time With Bill Maher
Live Fridays! 11pm/10c (tape delayed on west coast) ****** http://www.hbo.com ****** -------------------------------------------------------------- Buying a sports package? Cast your vote in SkyREPORT's Sky Poll - http://www.skyreport.com -------------------------------------------------------------- SkyREPORT 08/03/2004 - Sides Comment on DirecTV/Pegasus Resolution ****** Jayco Ventures, Inc. ****** Jayco Ventures, Inc. (JVI) is the industries leading supplier of installation products for the DBS industry. From residential drop material to commercial SMATV gear, JVI has the largest selection of approved parts in the DBS industry. For product information, to get a full line catalog, or to find a JVI distributor near you, call 800-841-7970 or visit us on the web at www.jviparts.com. "Countless unseen, details make the difference." ****** http://www.jviparts.com ****** Today's Headlines: Sides Comment on DirecTV/Pegasus Resolution NDS: Deal Soon with DirecTV on DVRs Station Loses Must Carry Request Vs. DirecTV Northern Sky: Satellite Capacity Demand to Grow TECHNOLOGY: WildBlue Gets Back Office in Order ****** Hughes Network Systems ****** One-third of the population is underserved by broadband. Give your customers the high-speed access they crave with DIRECWAY The satellite broadband solution that's available now, everywhere in the continental U.S and Puerto Rico. To become a dealer, call 1-800-859-5167, or visit http://dealers.DIRECWAY.com for details ****** http://dealers.DIRECWAY.com ****** Sides Comment on DirecTV/Pegasus Resolution After two months of legal wrangling in Maine federal courts, and after nearly five years of overall litigation between the sides, Pegasus and DirecTV agreed to end their skirmish Monday in a deal that will allow the satellite TV service to obtain Pegasus' subscribers in rural areas. DirecTV said it will pay $875 million in cash, subject to certain adjustments, for Pegasus' DBS assets, including subscribers acquired through Pegasus' National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative affiliates. The payment reflects the dismissal of all claims between the parties, including a $63 million judgment entered in May in favor of DirecTV against Pegasus, the satellite TV company said. Taking into account the judgment, the aggregate price is about $938 million. Chase Carey, president and CEO of DirecTV, said, "This agreement gives DirecTV a true ability to reach every home in America. DirecTV will have unencumbered access to an additional 10 million households and will be able to offer consumers in those rural markets the full benefits of DirecTV programming, pricing and service." Carey said the number of DirecTV subscribers in rural areas has declined during the past few years, "and this will enable us to reverse that trend and grow our subscriber base in these areas going forward." He added, "This transaction also has significant financial benefits including significant increased short-term cash flow and long-term value from both increased subscribers and cash flow." Pegasus CEO Marshall Pagon said the deal with DirecTV will allow for a quick resolution of Pegasus Satellite Television's case in Maine bankruptcy court. "Most importantly, these agreements assure that Pegasus Satellite Television's over 1 million subscribers throughout the U.S. will continue to receive uninterrupted delivery of DirecTV programming and that the sale to DirecTV will be managed smoothly and without disruption of their satellite service," Pagon added. Pagon also thanked employees and management for their hard work. "In little over 10 years, and in defiance of widespread skepticism that satellite television could ever successfully compete with cable, they built a sound and successful business serving over 1 million rural subscribers in 41 states," he said. The NRTC said it was happy DirecTV and Pegasus came to a deal. This was the last step in finalizing the agreement between NRTC and DirecTV that will terminate their joint DBS sales effort - which was first announced June 1 - and ends all litigation among the parties, the cooperative said. Said NRTC President and CEO Bob Phillips. "Every one of our DBS members has chosen to quantify the great value in the businesses they've built over the last decade by accepting this deal, and the vast majority of them have also decided to continue on as retailers and services of DirecTV to our subscribers." The June 1 agreement ends the original NRTC/DirecTV contract, and compensates NRTC DBS members for ending their exclusive territorial rights for selling the satellite TV service, while allowing them to continue to sell DirecTV through different options. Pegasus faced an Aug. 31 deadline for termination of the original NRTC/DirecTV DBS sales deal. In addition to the DirecTV deal, Pegasus and a committee of unsecured creditors working on Pegasus Satellite's bankruptcy reached an agreement on the sale of TV stations owned by Pegasus Satellite to Pegasus Communications, subject to higher and better offers. The sale of the satellite TV assets and settlement with DirecTV as well as the sale of the TV stations are subject to bankruptcy court approval and applicable antitrust filings and approvals. ****** PACE Electronics ****** A PACE exclusive! Now introducing Tradewind International Products. From 100% quality controlled micro-modulators to exclusive 4-way ground blocks, Tradewind International Products are a step above the rest. For product information and to receive a 2004 product catalog, call us at 800-444-7223 or visit us on the web at www.pacemso.com. (we are nationwide) ****** http://www.pacemso.com/products/products.asp?referrer=skyreports ****** NDS: Deal Soon with DirecTV on DVRs NDS Group, News Corp.'s TV technology unit, said it's closer to getting DirecTV on board with its services, including a digital video recorder product. NDS President and CEO Abe Peled said Monday that an agreement with DirecTV has not yet been signed, but added he soon expects a deal with the satellite TV company that will put NDS' XTV DVR into DirecTV set-top boxes, with shipments beginning in first quarter 2005. Also, some of NDS' middleware products may appear in DirecTV systems sometime in the fourth quarter, Peled said. Peled said NDS has been "spending heavily" on middleware and the XTV digital recorder product for DirecTV, and that the company has made "Significant progress" in developing new technology for the satellite TV company. News about the XTV DVR in future DirecTV set-top boxes sent TiVo's stock down more than 5 percent to $5.34 Monday. TiVo supplies DirecTV with DVRs, and has generated most of its subscriptions from DirecTV's service. DirecTV has said in the past it plans to continue using TiVo, though comment wasn't available from the company concerning NDS Monday. In addition to NDS, News Corp. also controls DirecTV. ****** SkyWay USA, Inc. ****** SkyWay USA, an 'open standard" satellite broadband program offers satellite dealers up-front pay, no cost & no charge-back standard equipment, acquired liquidity value of each subscriber, national dial-up ISP capabilities and the highest paying monthly residuals ever paid in the industry. The SkyWay USA program allows satellite dealers to offer nationwide dial-up Internet services and satellite broadband primarily to the 30 million households located in rural markets where DSL, cable modem or other terrestrial broadband solutions are not available. Interested Satellite dealers should apply online at www.skywayusa.com to secure entry into their local markets. ****** http://www.skywayusa.com/dealers/profile.asp ****** Station Loses Must Carry Request Vs. DirecTV The Media Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission denied a petition for reconsideration filed by Family Stations, Inc. concerning a request for carriage of one of the company's TV stations by DirecTV. The issue involves Family Stations of New Jersey, licensee of non-commercial, educational television station WFME-TV. The station was denied must-carry status on DirecTV for the satellite TV company's local TV service into the New York DMA. According to the FCC order on the matter, DirecTV said WFME failed to make a proper must carry request by July 1, 2001. The station's owners deny the charge, saying it made a request in a timely matter and that DirecTV was aware of its request. Nonetheless, the FCC denied the petition from the station and its owners, saying the station cited no special circumstances to distinguish its failure to follow the rules. ****** ProBusinessTools ****** I want efficency I want higher productivity I want order processing I want ProBusinessTools Get ProBusinessTools Now Click here ****** http://www.probusinesstools.com ****** Northern Sky: Satellite Capacity Demand to Grow Demand for commercial satellite capacity could grow at 4.8 percent each year during the next few years, driven by satellite TV (or DTH) services, satellite broadband and HD channels, according to a new market survey from Northern Sky Research. The firm's research, titled "Global Assessment of Satellite Demand," evaluates demand for C-Band, Ku-Band and Ka-Band satellite transponder capacity, including seven specific satellite applications in 12 regional markets. Northern Sky says that, on a global basis, the number of leased C-Band and Ku-Band transponder equivalents will increase from 4,058 in 2003 to nearly 5,383 in 2009. This represents an average annual growth rate of 4.8 percent, with a large share of the growth coming from expanding DTH services, an emerging satellite broadband market and broadcast of more HD channels for pay TV services and free-to-air programming, the firm says. The commercial Ka-Band market has yet to develop in a significant manner, Northern Sky says. However, the firm believes Ka-Band's potential will change in the near term with the launch of new services. Demand for Ka-Band capacity is anticipated to grow at an average year-on-year rate of 41.1 percent during the forecast period, the company says. Increasing transponder demand also will drive more revenues from leased commercial satellite capacity. Northern Sky forecasts that revenues for leased C-Band and Ku-Band transponders will chalk up a 3.9 percent average annual growth rate. For more on Northern Sky, visit: http://www.northernskyresearch.com. ****** Attention Satellite Retailers ****** Powerful new Web site solution designed Specifically for DIRECTV retailers. Short on time? We automatically update your new Web site every time DIRECTV changes channels, pricing or national offers. For a FREE online demonstration call, Terry today on 770-569-7035 ****** http://www.rapidwebsite.info ****** TECHNOLOGY: WildBlue Gets Back Office in Order WildBlue Communications said Convergys will supply Infinys software to support order entry, billing and customer management for the launch of its satellite-delivered high speed data service. Also, Interactive Enterprise, a company that develops and markets broadband provisioning and service activation software, will provide a wireless version of its Open Conexon platform. And Incognito Software will provide WildBlue with the Broadband Command Center product, an integrated device-provisioning suite that will support the service, the satellite broadband company said. Broadwing Gets Ascent - Broadwing Communications, a subsidiary of Corvis Corporation, announced that Ascent Media Network Services signed a three-year agreement for real-time video and file transfers over its Media Services Network. The network will enhance and expand Ascent's ability to provide customers with real-time video and file transfers between New York, Minneapolis and Los Angeles facilities, the company said. SES Wins Crawford Deal - Last week, SES Americom announced a strategic, multi-year agreement with Atlanta-based Crawford Communications designed to deliver a one-stop solution for innovative program production and broad distribution within its advanced HD-Prime cable neighborhood. Crawford originates 32 full-time TV channels and produces programming distributed in the United States and around the world. ****** The BRIDGE for August 2004 ****** What will telcos do with the triple play? Can fiber to the home work? Are broadcasters serious about multicast? Who are the "other" pay-TV/broadband competitors? So many questions ... so many answers in the August BRIDGE ... detailing the New Competitors. ****** http://www.mbc-thebridge.com/ ****** --------------- Important Subscriber Information! --------------- SIGN UP FOR MORE INDUSTRY CRITICAL NEWS FROM MBC or manage your subscription or unsubscribe: http://www.skyreport.com/register.cfm ------------------------------------------------------------------ Advertising Info - http://www.skyreport.com/mediakit_2004.pdf SkyRETAILER: http://www.skyretailer.com | The BRIDGE: http://www.mbc-thebridge.com MBC-Datasouce: http://www.mbc-datasource.com | SkyRESEARCH: http://www.skyreport.com/skyresearch.cfm CableRETAILER: http://www.cableretailer.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Copyright  2004 Media Business Corp (MBC). Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of MBC is prohibited. MBC and MBC logo are trademarks of Media Business Corp. SkyREPORT.com is wholly owned and operated by MBC. All rights reserved. 807 Arapahoe Street - Golden - CO 80401 - tel. 303-271-9960 - fax 303-271-9965 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~