‘NoorSat’ warms up Mid-East
NoorSat, a new Bahrain and Jordan-based organisation, has leased “exclusive” capacity on Intelsat 10-02 at 1 deg West as an initial first stage in owning and then buying its own satellites. Director General of the new outfit is Omar Shoter, well-known for his similar role at ArabSat. Talking exclusively to Inside Satellite he said NoorSat was already talking to satellite-owners about leasing or buying spare capacity, for use at 1 deg West, and at two other orbital locations covering the Middle East, and with C and Kuband capacity. “We are looking to 2 or perhaps 3 satellites, depending on size and how our plan is received by broadcasters already active in the Middle East.” Shoter says he hoped to make a further announcement in the next few weeks as to leasing arraignments and orbital locations. ‘Noor’, in Arabic, roughly translates as ‘Light’ in English.

Also in this issue;

SES: ‘We’ll buy’: Full at 28.2, emergency measures likely
NTL Broadcast up for sale
Intelsat dumps Galaxy
130m DTH subs by 2013
500 HDTV ch’s by 2009
UK Freeview’s growth
‘ Adult’ TV booming
Germany’s thematics
MONITOR Intelsat’s 10-02
COMMENT ITV’s rough road