http://dsscentral.info/index.php DssCentral - Your Ultimate News Source Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:31:43 CST http://dsscentral.info/index.php?xnewsaction=fullnews&newsarch=032010&newsid=11 Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:31:43 CST
• DIRECTV Notes: DIRECTV Holdings LLC, an indirect subsidiary of DIRECTV, has announced plans to offer a benchmark size issuance of senior notes. The notes will not be available generally to U.S. persons as they will not be registered under the Securities Act of 1933 or any state securities laws. A benchmark offering is typically at least $500 million.

• Another EchoStar Reseller: Chalk up another reseller for EchoStar Corp as Georgia-based Transparent Technologies Inc. (TTI) has joined the satellite services' VIP-TV reseller program. TTI is also a Cisco partner offering Cisco IPTV technologies to the program.

• Globecomm Gets C2C Assets: Globecomm Systems has acquired assets including a teleport facility in the Netherlands plus offices in South Africa from Carrier to Carrier Telecom BV (C2C). C2C provides provides satellite services – including Inmarsat land-based BGAN and maritime-based Fleet Broadband services plus other mobile communications. –across Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Asia, and maritime services in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Gulf of Mexico and the Indian Ocean regions. The initial purchase price is approximately $15 million in cash, funding through $2.5 million of Globecomm's current cash position and approximately $12.5 million through the company's existing credit facility with Citibank.

• Tata Sky Adds HD: India's Tata Sky will add HD services this year, in time for October's Commonwealth Games. The DTH operator, one of seven in India, is thought to be in third place in the market, according to Rapid TV News.

• ICO in Haiti: ICO Global and its subsidiary DBSD North America have deployed satellite-based internet for use by relief agencies in Haiti.

]]> http://dsscentral.info/index.php?xnewsaction=fullnews&newsarch=032010&newsid=11 http://dsscentral.info/index.php?xnewsaction=fullnews&newsarch=032010&newsid=10 Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:30:24 CST
Here's an upper for DISHites. (Well, depending on how one views Google but still ....) Reports in the WSJ say that Google is testing a television programming search service on DISH.

Using elements of Google's Android operating system, the service reportedly lets viewers search through DISH offerings as well as internet fare (think YouTube etc.) in order to personalize their own line ups of shows.

It's said to be a very limited test ... but it sure sounds interesting. (DISH says it has "no comment" on the report.)

]]> http://dsscentral.info/index.php?xnewsaction=fullnews&newsarch=032010&newsid=10 http://dsscentral.info/index.php?xnewsaction=fullnews&newsarch=032010&newsid=9 Mon, 08 Mar 2010 09:50:46 CST
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Barack Obama will visit Florida April 15 to discuss the impact of his administration's new vision for human spaceflight, the White House announced March 7.

Obama will be joined by "top officials and other space leaders" to discuss the new course the administration is charting for NASA and the future of U.S. leadership in manned space exploration.

"Specifically, the conference will focus on the goals and strategies in this new vision, the next steps, and the new technologies, new jobs, and new industries it will create," the White House news release states.

In his 2011 budget request to lawmakers Feb. 1, Obama proposed canceling NASA's Constellation program, a five-year-old effort initiated under the administration of former President George W. Bush to replace the agency's aging space shuttle fleet with new rockets and spacecraft optimized for the Moon. Although Obama's proposal would add $6 billion to the agency's spending coffers over the next five years and foster development of a commercial crew transportation service, the plan to abandon NASA's nearly $10 billion investment in new hardware capable of returning humans to the lunar surface has sparked bipartisan protests from Capitol Hill.

Florida lawmakers, including Democrats Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, have voiced strong concerns with Obama's plan to cancel Constellation, which was expected to stem job losses at NASA's Kennedy Center — as well as at NASA's Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Ala. and Johnson Space Center in Houston — resulting from the space shuttle's retirement at the end of this year.

Citing an Oct. 22 report by a blue-ribbon panel led by former Lockheed Martin chief Norm Augustine, the White House release asserts NASA's current plan to replace the shuttle is "fundamentally un-executable" and says Obama's funding boost over the next five years will "help us achieve our boldest aspirations in space."

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