A new generation of satellites, and spectrum assigned to mobile satellite services, will play a prominent role in the next major development in television and radio broadcasting.

·         Satellites will enable relatively rapid roll-outs across major regions of the world and spectrum assigned to mobile satellite services holds the key to unlocking this potentially massive market.

·         A combination of satellite and terrestrial transmission will deliver the next generation of television, radio and associated multimedia services to mobile and in-vehicle receivers.

by Robert Bell, Executive Director, World Teleport Association

By “favorite,” I mean “least favorite,” the way the Millennial generation calls something “bad” when they really mean “good.”  My favorite recession ran from 1989 to 1991.  Fairly mild in most of the United States, it was devastating in the New York metropolitan area where I live.  It was…well, it was sufficiently interesting that I don’t really want to talk about it after all.

The Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) satellite operator business is the most established of the satellite industry, with leaders like Intelsat and SES representing many billions of dollars of investment and revenue. In the past, these companies and their predecessors like Hughes Communications Galaxy and RCA American Communications exclusively relied on investor risk capital and internally ground funds. What has changed to make these companies behave more like debt-leveraged industries like wireless/cellular telephone and airlines?

How We Got Here

IPTV continues to offer a mix of opportunities and challenges. As telecoms sprint to become video network operators, broadcast, media, and satellite companies everywhere are placing their bets on what’s around the corner.

In the cable sector, Comcast and other companies are building up their network capacity and CableLabs’ DOCSIS 3.0 with 160 Mbs channel bonding enables a new level of IP video services. Telecoms such as Verizon have become veterans at delivering TV services over hundreds of video, music and HD channels. Their FiOS business reached 1.5M subscribers last year.

With all the fears of a recession and a tightening financial market hanging over the satellite industry in 2008, one  particular market that has provided a good revenue stream for the industry in recent years may remain constant or even continue to grow.  That market is the military and government sector worldwide.   The US government alone is estimated to spend nearly half a Billion dollars a years in commercial satellite prodicts and services, according to space consultant, Vice-Adm. Lyle Bien, USN (ret.)

Markets for satellite communications equipment and services have expanded to fill the gaps in terrestrial broadcasting and telecommunications networks. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Middle East, which is the focus of this article. Comprising this picture are satellite operators, such as Arabsat and Nilesat; teleport operators in particular countries such as Dubai, Egypt and Jordan; and service providers who utilize these facilities to deliver applications to their Middle Eastern customers.