China Direct Broadcast Satellite began operations on Christmas, it said Thursday. CDS combines the satellites of Sino Satellite Communications, Sinocat and China Satcom. It will run Sinocat 1, 2 and 3 and Zhongxing 6B. Sinocat 9 will launch next year, Sino officials said. Then 150 to 200 HD channels will be available to Chinese satellite TV views, CDS said. China hopes to be building 80 percent of the satellite gear locally by 2020, CDS said.
Exports to China
World Trade Organization countries and would-be WTO members must have transparent and nondiscriminatory satellite licensing or authorization procedures, the Satellite Industry Association told the U.S. Trade Representative in comments filed late Thursday. “Countries should be encouraged to act on satellite access applications within a reasonable period of time, not to exceed six months,” it said. The FCC doesn’t always meet this benchmark but it’s a good goal, an industry source told us. Satellite regulation is veiled in Russia, China, Egypt, Malaysia, South Africa, Thailand and Vietnam, SIA said. Countries shouldn’t require a local presence, SIA said. “If all WTO member countries imposed such a requirement, satellite operators would be burdened with maintaining corporate entities in all countries of their coverage -- an unsustainable corporate structure and expense,” it said. Many nations with their own satellites have laws or rules favoring use of them. For example, Kazakhstan has signaled it wants to move some services to KazSat 1. Some countries require mobile satellite service operators to build and maintain domestic gateways. This requirement wears the cloak of security but has nothing to do with running a network, an industry source said. MSS operators “should be able to demonstrate compliance via the most advanced technical means available, without regard to particular technologies or configurations,” SIA said. Some countries require satellite operators to complete international coordination, SIA said. “The FCC does not require an applicant to complete international coordination before granting that applicant’s satellite system authorization to provide service in the U.S. Rather authorizations are conditioned with the requirement to undertake ITU coordination,” it said. India bans use of the Ku-band for “no logical reason,” SIA said. India also requires satellite operators to coordinate capacity use, and the Indian Space Research Organization only allows use of foreign capacity if capacity isn’t available on its system, SIA said.
Research In Motion will probably finish 2007 with 10 percent of the smartphone market, making the BlackBerry maker second only to Nokia in the category, ABI Research said. RIM’s smartphone share increased from 7.2 percent in Q3 2006 to 9.5 percent in Q3 2007. To keep growing, RIM must expand research and development and manufacturing so it can “expand and increase its presence in markets beyond North America and Europe,” said ABI analyst Shailendra Pandey. “Considering the growing opportunities in the Asia Pacific region, a manufacturing and R&D presence in India or China can help RIM in shipping more devices and reducing overall costs.”
The WiMAX Forum said its lead certification lab has started testing and evaluating mobile WiMAX products. WiMAX Forum vendors are encouraged to submit 2.3 GHz and 2.5 GHz mobile WiMAX equipment for testing, the group said. The Forum’s lead certification lab is at AT4 Wireless in Spain. The group said labs in the U.S., Taiwan, China and South Korea are also expected to start certifying mobile devices in short order.
Siano Mobile Silicon will market a mobile TV system in China in time for the 2008 Olympics with EchoStar affiliate CMB Satellite and manufacturer Huaqi, they said. The system will rely on China’s CMMB mobile video technology, which operates in the S-band.
China will ease registered capital requirements for U.S. telecommunications service providers seeking to operate in China, the U.S. Trade Representative and U.S. Commerce Secretary said Tuesday in a joint fact sheet on a Beijing meeting of the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade. China and the U.S. will share information on customs seizures of counterfeit goods, the fact sheet said. China will toughen enforcement of laws against company name misuse.
CUPERTINO, Calif. -- The large pay-TV companies are embracing software designed to bridge content protection technologies and let consumers move premium programming where they want without allowing mass copying, said Paolo Siccardo, CEO of Digital Keystone. “They're all starting to like it,” he said at a Tuesday night meeting of the Santa Clara Valley chapter of the IEEE Consumer Electronics Society. “They used to hate it.” Siccardo said his company -- a middle-aged Silicon Valley startup with A-list development partners -- is developing “CD2DRM” links between the conditional access of cable and satellite companies and the array of digital rights management on consumer devices.
GENEVA -- World trade in technology covered by the World Trade Organization (WTO) Information Technology Agreement (ITA) has posted strong increases since ITA eliminated tariffs on covered products in 1997, a WTO report said. However, new functionalities are muddying interpretation of what constitute covered products, leading to levying of tariffs on some items as they enter Europe (CD Sept 6 p6), it said.
Alex Mandl, ex-Gemplus, Teligent and AT&T, becomes nonexecutive chairman of digital security firm Gemalto… Qwest hires Chris Huckleberry, ex-aide to House Commerce Committee member Darlene Hooley (D-Ore.), staff advocate, federal relations… Nielsen promotes Mitch Barns to president, Nielsen Greater China… Mark Warner, ex- Microsoft Studios, becomes vice president of Advanced Broadcast Solutions… Former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue returns to Covington & Burling to specialize on communications/media, technology and international… ConnectKentucky names Rene True, ex-Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development, executive director… Vyyo promotes Walt Ungerer to executive vice president, corporate strategy and investor relations… Comcast promotes Melissa Maxfield to vice president, federal government affairs… Chris Burke, ex-Vodafone, joins OneAccess board… Karen Tripp, ex-GE, becomes L-3 Communications vice president, corporate communications… Rich Taylor, ex-MPAA, named Entertainment Software Association senior vice president for communications and research… Maribel Viteri, ex-Diageo, joins ESPN Deportes as director of marketing… Craig Coane, ex-Comcast, becomes president-general manager, KBWB- TV San Francisco… Beasley Broadcast Group names Mike Glickenhaus, ex-Finest City Broadcasting, vice president and market manager for its Las Vegas stations… AT&T promotes Kevin Petersen to vice president, major accounts, succeeding Mike Welch, recently named vice president of sales operations, advertising and publishing… Synacor names Jim Turner, ex-A&E Networks, vice president, product management.
Time Warner Cable promotes Tom Mathews to executive vice president, human resources… NBC Entertainment promotes Doug Vaughan to senior vice president, special programs and alternative development; Meredith Ahr promoted to vice president, alternative programming, development and specials… Motorola promotes Greg Brown to CEO, succeeding Edward Zander, who remains chairman… Edward McQuaid, ex- Verizon, becomes chief financial officer of iCache… Gongquan Wang, CDH Venture Partners, joins board of China Digital TV.