A Lebanese judge has ruled that Al-Manar TV – a satellite television channel closely affiliated with Hezbollah – should be put back on the air by its former satellite broadcasting provider Arabsat. In December 2015 Arabsat dropped Al-Manar TV claiming that the channel had violated the terms of its agreement …
Read More »Iran’s endless war against private satellite TV nets over 713,000 dishes since early 2016
Tehran’s police chief, General Lofti, told an audience at a Chastity and Hijab meeting held on 13 November 2016, that Iranian authorities have seized 713,546 satellite dishes, 923,299 low-noise block downconverters (LNB’s) and 10,766 satellite receivers over the past seven months. Further, General Lofti informed his audience that authorities have …
Read More »The #SpaceWatchME IBC 2016 Interviews: Hussein Oteifa of SES
SpaceWatch Middle East conducted a series of interviews during the International Broadcast Convention 2016 in Amsterdam earlier this month. The second of these interviews is with Hussein Oteifa, Commercial General Manager for the Middle East at SES. SES is one of the most active satellite operators in the Middle East …
Read More »SES makes bold move into global maritime SATCOM market
SES S.A. announced on 14 September 2016 the launch of its global SES Maritime+ service that will deliver high-speed connectivity to vessels traversing oceans. SES Maritime+ will enable maritime customers to have easy access to customisable bandwidth and coverage packages, ensuring satellite capacity is effectively utilised. Vessels traversing the oceans …
Read More »Kratos launches new satellite interference monitoring products
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., a leading National Security Solutions provider, announced on 8 September 2016 the release of Monics® Enterprise, one of two new additions to its Monics family of industry leading satellite carrier monitoring and interference mitigation solutions. Monics Enterprise was developed to provide satellite and network …
Read More »Yahlive’s success with Farsi diaspora is only the beginning
With an estimated 140 million Farsi speakers worldwide, Yahlive seeks to provide quality satellite broadcast television channels to this community. Yahlive CEO Sami Boustany, in an Op-Ed originally published in Space News on September 7, 2016, lays out his company’s strategy to serve this important market. A community is commonly …
Read More »Qatar’s Es’hail-2 launch delayed to 3rd Quarter of 2017
Qatar’s Es’hailSat has announced that it’s Es’hail-2 satellite will now be launched in the third quarter of 2017 rather than in December 2016 as originally planned. There has been no word as to why the launch date for Es’hail-2 has slipped by at least six months. Es’hail-2 will be launched …
Read More »Yahlive extends partnership with BBC to broadcast across the Middle East and South West Asia
Yahlive, the Abu Dhabi-based satellite joint venture between the world leading satellite operator SES and UAE satellite company Yahsat, announced on 16 August 2016 that it has signed a contract renewal with the BBC World Service. As part of the ongoing agreement, the BBC will continue the broadcast of its …
Read More »Satellite spectrum issues for the Middle East: an interview with Hans-Juergen Tscheulin
Space and satellites are often treated as an intrinsically exciting and glamorous field of activity. Yet the issue of spectrum requirements, regulatory filings, and spectrum management are all too often considered to be unglamorous, and as a result are unfairly and dangerously ignored. The reality is that without a competent …
Read More »Arabsat and MBC Group form strategic partnership
MBC Group (Middle East Broadcasting Centre) channels announced on 1 August 2016 the transition of its Gulf channels and MBC Pro Sports Channels to Arabsat through a strategic partnership signed with Arabsat today. The partnership aims to establish a new era of family TV entertainment reinforcing high quality viewership. While …
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