The satellite industry, or at least the overwhelming majority that were still in business or were still employed at the start of the new year, breathed a collective sigh of relief for having survived 2009--one of the worst years since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The industry can take heart that not only has it survived 2009--it has gone through an entire decade in a better position than it started.

The Society of Satellite Professionals International released December 17, 2009 the results of its first member survey. The report, "The Satellite Industry Workforce 2009," reveals some surprising and a few not so surprising results based on responses from SSPI members around the world.

Key findings of the report, include:

· The satellite industry is not a "graying" business. The age distribution of satellite professionals is remarkably even, with 43% of respondents between the ages of 18 and 39 and 80% of respondents under the age of 54.

Many countries around the world have a requirement for owning their own satellite system to apply Earth Observation (EO) to solve problems, meet new missions and reach goals - both inside and outside their territory. But not every one of them can or has the desire or political will to do it. There are however a rising number of developing countries that have projects underway such as Vietnam, Taiwan, Chile, Dubai, Algeria, and more recently in Malaysia, which puts them solidly on the EO map.

With the introduction of digital TV a new way of video transport and delivery has emerged, using the Internet Protocol (IP). Video over IP is a general term to describe the use of IP in any or all stages of video transport to the subscriber (or end-customer). This has to be distinguished from the term IPTV, which means specifically the delivery of video as an IP stream to the subscriber set-top box or TV set. All digital video today that is broadcast, transported over satellite or distributed in cable systems is using the MPEG transport stream (TS) communications protocol.

My previous column for this publication focused on the oil and gas exploration and production sector, with particular reference to the increasing attention of the energy industry on deepwater and ultra-deepwater hydrocarbon reserves which now appear to be much more abundant than was thought ten years ago.

EO Satellite Manufacturing, Commercial Data and Value Added Services to Generate $6.2 Billion in 2018

According to a new study from Parks Associates, the number of US broadband households watching online content doubled in the last year. The study, entitled Broadband Communications, and Entertainment Bundles, says that over 25 million U.S. households regularly watch full-length TV shows online.

Latin America has a vibrant Direct-to-Home (DTH) market with services recently launched or rolling out in several countries in the next few months. The largest and most mature DTH market in the region is that of Brazil, which has the largest population and most extensive land area in South America.

DTH Market Trends in Brazil

ITU’s latest statistics, published in The World in 2009: ICT facts and figures, reveal rapid ICT growth in many world regions in everything from mobile cellular subscriptions to fixed and mobile broadband, and from TV to computer penetration - with mobile technology acting as a key driver.