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AMOS-5 SATELLITE CO VENEZUELA BARS CABLE, SATELLITE CHANNELS SPACECOM SIGNS AFRICA DEAL Venezuelan regulators have ordered cable and satellite operators to stop carrying one of the country’s best known broadcasters, RCTV International, along with five other stations, alleging that the broadcasters violated a requirement to air President Hugo Chávez’s speeches. The Committee to Protect Journalists urged Venezuelan authorities today to allow all of the stations to resume operations immediately. On orders from the National Telecommunication Commission (CONATEL), cable and satellite providers stopped transmitting RCTV International and five other stations shortly after midnight, local press reports said. The action against RCTV and the other stations—Ritmo Son, Momentum, America TV, American Network, and TV Chile—was taken after the stations chose not to air a speech by Chávez. The next day, during his weekly radio and TV program “Aló Presidente,” Chávez said, “We applied the law. If they don’t follow it, they won’t be allowed back on the air.”
Spacecom Satellite Communications Ltd. (TASE:SCC) has signed a deal to provide satellite communications services in Africa. The services will be provided via its Amos5 satellite. The 6-year deal begins from the start of the commercial operation of the satellite in 2011. Spacecom expects total revenue from the deal to reach $47 million.
The Amos 5 communications satellite is scheduled for launch in 2011 and to operate for 15 years on an orbit that will provide coverage of Africa and parts of Europe and the Middle East. Until the Amos 5 is ready, Spacecom will provide services via the Amos 5i satellite, whose services it purchased for $45 million in September 2009. MARCH
10
The Highly Circulated Satellite Magazine
2010