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IRAN TO UNVEIL THREE NEW SATELLITES
EURONEWS PLANS PERSIAN, TURKISH BROADCASTS
Iran will unveil three new satellites amid Western concerns that Tehran is using its nuclear and space industries to develop atomic and ballistic weapons. ISNA news agency quoted Communications Minister Reza Taghipour as saying that one of the three home-built communications satellites is still under construction. Taghipour named the three satellites as Toloo (Dawn), Ya Mahdi and Mesbah-2, but did not elaborate on exactly when they would be launched. Ya Mahdi, Taghipour said as quoted by ISNA, was an "experimental satellite" and the launch would be for testing camera and telecommunications equipment. Mesbah-2, which is under construction, "is a low-orbit telecommunication satellite for storing and sending messages," he said. "It can do different tasks, not as a 24-hour link, but it can be used for limited communication applications." Iran's defence minister Ahmad Vahidi said Wednesday that Toloo is a "reconnaissance satellite," ISNA reported. Vahidi had previously said Toloo would be unveiled during celebrations in early February marking the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution. He said last month that Toloo was designed by Sa Iran, also known as Iran Electronics Industries, an affiliate company of the defence ministry.
The pan-European television news channel Euronews has said that it planned to start broadcasting rolling news in Persian and in Turkish this year. Broadcasts in Persian, spoken in Iran and Afghanistan, are planned by the end of the year, said the broadcaster based in the eastern French city of Lyon. Turkish broadcasts will start sooner. Iranian authorities tightly monitor foreign-language media in the country and the BBC has accused them of trying to jam satellite broadcasts of its own Persian-language service there. The two new services will be broadcast from Lyon by satellite and cable as well as online, like the station's existing channels in eight other languages, which include English, French, Russian and Arabic. "This way we will be broadcasting in all the major languages of the Europe, Middle East and Africa zone," Euronews president Philippe Cayla said.
DISH NETWORK USA: 14 MN SUBS DISH Network L.L.C., the fastest growing DTH service in America, has now got more than 14 million subscribers. "Surpassing 14 million subscribers is testimony to the strides we made over the past year in providing a best-in-class video experience," said Charlie Ergen, Chairman, President and CEO of DISH Network. "We have more MARCH
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The Highly Circulated Satellite Magazine
2010