17 YEARS OF GENEROUS PUBLICATIONS
India's federal information and broadcast ministry is not accepting new applications for permission to send and receive data to a satellite for television content in the country, pending a recommendation from the regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. While the current technology allows for a more efficient use of bandwidth for satellite television, the total bandwidth available is still limited, the ministry said in a notice on its Web site. The notice said that the present policy for granting permission for 'uplinking' and 'downlinking'--including
CHINA TO SEND THIRD NAVIGATION SATELLITE INTO ORBIT China plans to launch the third Beidou satellite, as part of the Chinese version of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), into the orbit "in a few days" from the southwestern Xichang Satellite Launch Centre, China's Xinhua news agency reported quoting a statement from the centre. Both the rocket, a Long March-3III carrier, and the satellite were in sound condition and ready for launch, said the statement, without giving the exact launch date. China aimed to make Beidou, or Compass, a navigation satellite system that would consist of 35 satellites by 2020, provide global service, Hu Gang, vicepresident of Beijing BDStar Navigation Co. Ltd, was quoted by China Daily as saying in July last year. Beidou is expected to rival the US-developed GPS, the EU's Galileo positioning system and Russia's GLONASS, according to media reports. The homegrown global navigation satellite system will provide regional service around 2011 with a constellation of 12 satellites. The 12 satellites will be part of the programme's first phase. So far only two Compass satellites have been launched into orbit, one in 2007 and the other in April last year.
MARCH
AROUND THE SATELLITE WORLD
DOORDARSHAN TO GO DIGITAL India’s public broadcaster Doordarshan is to receive a massive investment in order for its conversion to digital production and transmission. BBC Monitoring is reporting that India’s Information and Broadcasting Ministry has prepared a proposal for an Rs8 billion (US$174 million) investment for All India Radio and Rs6 billion to Doordarshan for completing digitisation which will be shortly placed before the Cabinet, according to a senior government official. The government says it is confident of meeting its deadline of complete digitisation of the electronic media by 2017, the I&B official adds. Doordarshan and AIR, which were beaming terrestrially to the whole country, have stepped up the process of digitisation. Earlier, Doordarshan had set aside an amount of Rs12.09 billion out of a total approved outlay of Rs13.69 billion just for digitisation in the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-2012).
DTH COMING TO BANGLADESH Bangladesh may soon see its first DTH service, with a parliamentary committee recommending that satellite broadcasting be allowed, to compete with the country’s cable operators. Introducing digital DTH services could help challenge the corruption in the cable sector, as well as giving the government more control over revenue collection from pay-TV. However, the committee has recommended that existing cable operators also be allowed to launch DTH services should they wish to do so. Some of India’s existing DTH operators, such as Tata Sky, may be interested in
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The Highly Circulated Satellite Magazine
2010