When News Corp. acquired DirecTV, they said they’d go forward with the innovative, 2-way spot beam internet satellite platform, called Spaceway.
Well forget that.
The 2-way internet satellite is being coverted to an HDTV service. SpaceWay was going to provide up to 1.5Mbps up and 5Mbps down using spot beams. Now it’s television.
DirectTV announced that they will be launching four satellites bringing more than 1500 high-definition channels to the American public. The first two satellites, Spaceway 1 and Spaceway 2, will launch in 2005, giving DirecTV enough capacity for more than 500 local HD channels. The final two, DirecTV 10 and DirecTV 11, will launch in early 2007. The company confirmed it will use two previously ordered Spaceway satellites, already under construction by Boeing, for television.
| Satellite Package |
Spaceway’s new HDTV focus will follow competitor Rainbow-1, a dedicated HDTV satellite launched by Cablevision over a year ago. But Cablevision is finding poor reception. Their Voom HDTV service has under 30,000 subscribers since launching the service last October. DirecTV and EchoStar, have a total of more than 23-million subscribers, while cable companies have about 70 million.
In the UK, News Corp’s BSkyB satellite-TV operation also offers interactive TV services, such as split-screen viewing, e-commerce, and selecting camera angles for soccer matches. DirecTV may offer similar services says Newsfactor.
Arianespace announced the signing of a contract for the launch of the Spaceway 2 satellite in April 2005. The 6 ton satellite carries an all Ka-Band payload.
DIRECTV is the nation’s leading digital multichannel television service provider with more than 13 million customers. They are 34 percent owned by Fox Entertainment Group, which is approximately 82 percent owned by News Corporation Ltd.
That will leave WildBlue as (essentially) the only viable 2-way internet satellite.
WildBlue s plans for a Ka-band-based satellite broadband service literally got off the ground in mid-July following the successful launch of the Anik F2 satellite.
WildBlue’s CEO Tom Moore, say’s the company’s goal is to have a product that is equivalent both in terms of monthly pricing and performance to what you see in the DSL or cable market. He says the company expects to, “roll out into a commercial offering sometime early next year I d say the first quarter of next year and reach a national foot print shortly thereafter”.
We haven t settled on a monthly price, but our goal is to be close it doesn t have to be identical to what you would pay for a similar service from a DSL provider or a cable company. [The service will sell in] the high $40s per month to start with, I would suspect.
In terms of the equipment, I would say $200 or $300 upfront for equipment plus installation. I don t think our plan is to be free up front. We want them to make an investment in this, but we want it also to be consumer electronics pricing something that s not out of their reach.
I think we ll start with two or three different tiers of service, probably a 500 kbps service, a 1 Mbps service and maybe a 1.5 Mbps service. In the upstream, probably something like 256 kbps. That seems to be a sweet spot particularly for cable
The Canadian-built Anik F2, launched this July, is slowly moving into its geosynchrous slot. Anik F2 will have 52 Ka-band (30 Ghz) transponders at 111.1 degrees (story) allowing consumers with mini dishes to receive both broadband Internet access and satellite television from DirecTV or EchoStar’s DISH Network. Wild Blue will reportedly lease 30 of the 45 Ka band transponders on F-2 for 2-way internet access. When they get their own satellite launched, WildBlue will use F-2 as a back-up.
Inexpensive 2-way satellite options today include:
- Starband (Starband Users) is affiliated with Echostar, and has a self-pointing mobile Internet service. The StarBand 481 Residential service provides residential customers with upload speeds of 100 kbps and up to 500 kbps down. Both Starband and Hughes’ DirectWay cost $60-$130/month, varying on upfront hardware costs.
- Hughes, DirectWay is the Echostar/Starband competitor for consumers and businesses in the United States. They have a 1 meter, 2-way satellite service designed for businesses called Skycaster which costs $100-$400/month. It uses a 4020 indoor unit providing more than 384 kbps and is bundled with multiple static-public IP addresses and firewall support.
- Connexstar by Spacenet is designed for multi-location businesses in the continental U.S. and/or Canada. This includes retail, restaurant and hospitality chains, as well as franchise owners. It is not available to consumer or small-office/home-office users. Connexstar is not designed for providing ISP services or for hosting Web sites. Gilat’s Skystar terminal (in the Ku band) supports a wide range of network protocols, including IP, with up to 8 Mbps and 153.6 kbps down and up in the Ku band. Hollywood Video uses them for credit checks.
- Tachyon, uses a small dish that is transportable and can deliver internet services to business in a hurry. It’s been used sucessfully at Burning Man for the last few years. They were doing Homeland Security before Homeland Security was cool.
Satellites are just a platform. Programming is controlled by Rupert Murdock.
