Mid-East satellite spat: Third operator seeks slice of cake
A furious row has broken out amongst Middle East satellite operators over new entrant Noorsat. Noorsat is the region’s first ‘virtual’ satellite broadcaster in that it has set itself up as a supplier of satellite capacity by renting spare bandwidth at highly-competitive rates from Paris-based Eutelsat. Noorsat CEO is Omar Shoter, well-known to the industry from his former position as director general of Arabsat. Shoter has promised that Noorsat would undercut local market prices by some 30%. This means significantly greater competition for the established duopoly of ArabSat and NileSat. More on this story

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Intelsat swallows PanAmSat
MTV suite goes onto DTH
NileSat orders new bird
BSkyB commits to HDTV
Music Choice goes for a song
Pace unveils iPOD ‘killer’
Hong Kong HDTV battle
SBS under new ownership
ARD’s digital radio
China’s 25m DTH homes
BBC’s ‘Martini’ moments
MONITOR: TV in the Sky
COMMENT: Mid-East TV drama