Intelsat announced today that at 2:44 a.m. EDT the Intelsat 905 satellite was successfully launched aboard an Ariane 44L vehicle. The satellite is expected to be operational in July.
The Intelsat 905 launch is the fifth in a nine-satellite campaign to replace and significantly add to existing capacity by the end of 2003. The 905 satellite will be deployed at 335.5?E and will offer capacity for telephony, corporate networks, Internet, video and hybrid space/terrestrial solutions to customers on its 72 C-band and 22 Ku-band transponders (measured in 36 MHz equivalent units). The satellite will provide high power Ku-band spot beam coverage for Western Europe and much of North America and additional C-band capacity to customers in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, North America and South America.

Intelsat Ltd CEO Conny Kullman stated: "The successful launch of the Intelsat 905 to 335.5?E marks not only the one year anniversary of the beginning of our current launch campaign, but also an historic anniversary for Intelsat. The 335.5?E orbital slot, our first location, also served as the location of our first satellite, Early Bird. We expect that the Intelsat 905 will follow in the footsteps of its predecessors by providing reliable and powerful communications solutions to our customers for years to come. "

The Intelsat 603 currently holds the 335.5?E orbital slot but will be moved to 178?E to create a new satellite role at that location.

Intelsat‘s next launch, the Intelsat 906 satellite, is scheduled to take place from French Guiana, aboard an Ariane 44L launch vehicle, during the third quarter of this year.

Mumbai and Delhi will lead the country in the growth of CAS. Kolkata will be slow in catching the trend, and Chennai will comprise mostly of fence sitters, content with its bundle of FTA channels.

These are a few observations that rating agency TAM is using currently to gauge the CAS mood in the country. With the imminent merger of the two ratings agencies in the country, TAM, backed by Nielsen‘s Media Research (NMR) will become the only resource for advertisers and broadcasters alike in tracking consumer preferences on the tube.

The early days of CAS will also see instability in household statuses as homes would either take long to take a decision, flirt with several channels before narrowing their choices to a few or those who convert to CAS only if there is a big event and are otherwise content with FTA channels.

Nor will CAS distribution be equitable, says TAM. While lower SEC homes could get bogged down by costs of the boxes and subscriptions, metro markets with multiple MSOs could see feverish CAS marketing activity vis a vis metros dominated by one or two cable ops, says a TAM study.

- It observes that CAS homes may move primarily to an analog set top box for cost reasons rather than a digital set top box enabling only a one way communication between the cable room and the CAS home. This will enable information about the penetration for each of the pay channels, says the study.