“Was that a great launch or what?,” exclaimed Jim Maser, president and general manager of Sea Launch, to the cheering crowd of VIPs monitoring the Spaceway 1 launch from Long Beach, Calif. “We didn’t have any hitches, the countdown went very smoothly and the launch was right on the money.”
After a checkout period, Spaceway 1 will go into service this summer to begin DIRECTV’s new initiative to transmit more than 1,500 national and local high-definition channels. It will be joined by three other satellites — Spaceway 2 later this year and DIRECTV 10 and DIRECTV 11 in 2007 — to fully implement the Spaceway system.
The launch of Spaceway F1, and Spaceway F2 in June, marks an historic shift from the two-way, “spotbeam” originally envisioned by Spaceway. SpaceWay was going to provide internet access with up to 1.5Mbps up and 5Mbps down using spot beams. Now it’s television.
After Rupert Murdock bought the controlling interest in DirecTV, with almost 14 million subscribers in the United States, he almost immediately shifted the focus to 1-way HDTV. DirecTV and EchoStar, have a total of nearly 25-million subscribers, while cable companies have about 70 million.
Two-way satellite services, as currently delivered by DirectPC and Echostar, have not been profitable. That’s partly because one transponder can only be shared by 5,000-10,0000 subscribers. One transponder has a bandwidth of 36Mhz, about the same as six cable modem channels.
Spaceways promised to change all that. Spotbeams, it was said, would enable transponder frequencies to be reused in dozens of spots across the country while boosting EIRP.
But satellite internet access became increasingly non-competitive. DSL, cablem modems and high speed cellular expanded into rural communities while WiMax threatened to provide faster, cheaper access for rural users.
Spaceway’s new HDTV focus will follow competitor Rainbow-1, a dedicated HDTV satellite launched by Cablevision about two years ago. Since it launched in 2003, Voom has lost an estimated $661 million. Owner Cablevision voted to shut down the money losing HDTV satellite service after chairman Charles Dolan was unable to come up with enough private funding to keep it going. Dolan was recently embroiled in a tiff with his son James, the company’s CEO, over the elder Dolan’s desire to keep a money-draining satellite TV service alive.
Voom subscribers, will be stuck without the service’s 39 HD channels when they officially go off air April 30th. Voom subscribers who switch over to DirecTV will receive a $200 rebate and three months free of DirecTV HD, according to SkyReport.com, and can choose from either an HD system or an HD digital video recorder (DVR) system.
Sea Launch is an international consortium involving Boeing’s Space division, RSC Energia, providing the Block DM-SL upper stage, launch vehicle integration and mission operations; SDO Yuzhnoye / PO Yuzhmash, providing the first two Zenit-3SL stages, launch vehicle integration support and mission operations; and Kvaerner, providing operational services of the launch platform Odyssey and assembly and command ship, Sea Launch Commander.
Spaceway 1, the first of two Ka-band satellites that will launch this year, is capable of delivering hundreds of HD signals to DIRECTV customers using advanced MPEG-4 encoding. That will enable DirecTV to provide local as well as national programming, HDTV as well as SDTV. By providing local stations, it is believed satellites can deliver better competition with cable operators.
Initially, DIRECTV will begin launching digital and HD local channels in 12 markets this fall allowing customers — with the necessary HD reception equipment — in those markets to receive popular broadcast network programming in HD. Two additional satellites will provide additional capacity to deliver more than 1,500 local HD and more than 150 national HD channels and other advanced programming services to consumers. The first group of markets to receive local HD channels via Spaceway F1 includes New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, Dallas, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Detroit, Houston and Tampa. These markets represent nearly 36 million homes or 32.8 percent of all U.S. TV households.
As a leading provider of HD programming, DIRECTV offers HD feeds from all four major broadcast networks – ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox (in select markets) – and an HD package that includes ESPN HD, Discovery HD Theater(TM), HDNet, HDNet Movies and Universal HD, and is available by subscription for $10.99 per month. ESPN2 HD will be added to the HD package later this year at no additional charge. DIRECTV customers with HD-enabled equipment can also receive HBO HDTV and SHO HD as part of their premium package subscriptions, as well as HD Pay Per View movies for $4.99 each (when ordered by remote).
DIRECTV also airs more than 100 NFL games in HD during football season via a tiered upgrade of its exclusive NFL SUNDAY TICKET(TM) package.
To access DIRECTV HD programming, customers may purchase a DIRECTV-enabled high-definition set-top receiver or HD DVR and a single 18 x 20-inch multi-satellite dish with three LNBs. DIRECTV-enabled HD receivers and triple LNB satellite dishes are available from authorized DIRECTV retailers, such as Circuit City and Best Buy, nationwide.
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. The company is rolling out two-way satellite access in the mid-west, first. Additional details will be made public just before their commercial rollout begins in June.
The Canadian-built Anik F2, was launched last July. 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 lease 30 of the 45 Ka band transponders on F-2 for 2-way internet access in the United States. When they get their own satellite launched, WildBlue will use F-2 as a back-up.
Inexpensive 2-way satellite options today include:
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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.
The new DW7000 next-generation broadband satellite routers consists of two offerings: the DW7700 for high-end enterprise and government applications; and the DW7000 for lower end business requirements. The DW7700 supports two simultaneous LAN subnets, providing the flexibility to handle new enterprise IP networking requirements. It uses industry standards, DVB-S and DVB-S2 to support a wide range of downstream data rates.
- 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.
- 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.
Related DailyWireless stories include; DirecTV Kills Two-Way Spaceway, DirecTV Bites $1.6B, Spot Beam Satellite Launched, Rainbow 1 Launched, Voom Sold, Mobile Satellite Access, Pacific Satellites Fail, Inmarsat Launches Spotbeam Satellite, WildBlue Launches, Spaceway Retrogrades, Blogging On The Road, Mobile Satellite Access, Multiuser Satellite Access, C-SPAN Celebrates 25, MPEG-4: Satellite, Cable & Wireless, Sharing A Satellite Van, Satellite Wi-Fi, Chapter 11 in Space, Rupert’s World, and Satellite News Gathering.
