NAB 2009 came and went...

There were plenty of those that predicted doom and gloom for the show this year and limited attendance.

Well they were right but the gloom and doom probably affected city of Las Vegas not Intelsat. While it was easier to get a hotel room, taxi and a meal than ever before and buses were half empty the traffic in the exhibit halls was steady and visitors were right people with decision making power rather than proverbial “tire kickers”.

Intelsat had a fantastic turn out for our annual Customer Appreciation Party at Postrio and our annual Breakfast with Intelsat. Flow of the visitors on the booth was steady and we had many successful meetings with customers and uncovered new opportunities. On top of that we had a chance to spend dedicated time with customers during Intelsat events and evenings.

While it may have been easier on sales to work NAB this year it was not so for our Marketing department. Regardless of number of people attending the booth needs to look in tip top shape. So special thanks from me to Dianne VanBeber, Lynette Simons, Jodi Morelli, Nick Mitsis and Jasmine Hakki for awesome booth, great events, consistent messaging and keeping us sales guys fed, straight and on schedule!

So as I was walking off the booth, on Thursday afternoon, I was encouraged by robustness of satellite industry, opportunities ahead of us and extremely proud of everyone that worked hard before and during the show to make it all possible.

~ Peter Ostapiuk, Regional Vice President, Cable & Emerging Media

4K - The Future of Broadcast TV?

In between fulfilling my responsibilities at NAB 2009 in Las Vegas, I made time to visit various booths on the exhibit floor. Spanning technologies for the consumer, professional and commercial broadcaster, there’s a plethora of high definition (HD) offerings. They range from the ubiquitous 1080i and 720p to the even higher quality 1080p resolution. There were even examples of 3D technology in prototype form – exciting!


What really caught my eye, and interest, were working examples of 4K technologies showcased by Sony and JVC. 4K offers two to four times the resolution of what is currently available for broadcast television and Blu-Ray HD playback. The quality and clarity of the display is outstanding! Even though industry adoption of 4K is quite a few years away, 4K offers a breathtaking window into the future of broadcast television.

~ Kevin Gillespie, Media Analyst, Marketing Communications

DTV Mobile is the buzz at NAB!

Just 18 months ago, the Open Mobile Video Coalition, comprised of over 800 broadcasters dedicated to accelerating mobile DTV was born.

DTV mobile is presently an ASTC candidate broadcast standard that provides digital TV broadcasters a technical scheme to deliver TV content and data to mobile handheld devices.

NAB President David Rehr stated the NAB's own study predicts at least $2B in incremental revenue once ATSC mobile TV is fully up and operating.

More than 70 stations in 28 markets are preparing for 2009 mobile video deployments!

DTV will not only be for mobile phones; Dell has several mobile DTV-enabled laptops in the pipeline.

~ Lynette Simmons, Director, Marketing Communications

Big Solutions in Little Packages

Voted “Best Movie Car” (The Italian Job) in a British survey, the Mini Cooper has a high cool factor with most any audience, and this one is no exception. At NAB 2009, this Mini has the distinguished supporting role of demonstrating the Intelsat uPod service for conference attendees.


An automated satellite news gathering (SNG) solution, uPod allows broadcasters – the greatest portion of NAB attendees – to schedule and transmit SD and HD video feeds, and enjoy voice and Internet services. And it’s easy…simply drive to the news site, push a button, and let the system do the rest!

Stop by our outdoor booth# OE404 for a live demo.

~ Kevin Gillespie, Media Analyst, Marketing Communications

Intelsat Is Ready for Changing Market Demands

By Ken Kerschbaumer

Most of Intelsat’s assets are located 22,000 miles above the Las Vegas Convention Center in the form of satellites and transponders, but the company is helping customers stay grounded with transmission services that also include more than 28,000 miles of fiber and eight teleports.

For Ron Rosenthal, Intelsat regional VP, broadcast solutions, North America, the mix of firepower allows him to focus on finding the right mix of services... continue reading

Posted using ShareThis

Intelsat Technology Pavilion

Galaxy 25, located at 93°W, enables the delivery of AT&T CruiseCast to provide 42 channels of satellite TV and radio to the back seat of your cars.

The AT&T CruiseCast service utilizes a compact, low-profile antenna for use on cars, non-commercial trucks and SUVs, and breakthrough technology that overcomes line-of-sight obstacles such as overpasses, buildings, trees or tunnels.

Stop by our outdoor booth# OE404 to experience this breakthrough technology.

~ Kevin Gillespie, Media Analyst, Marketing Communications

It's All About 3D

Interesting additions to the NAB Exhibit Hall this year: large-scale theaters, 3D glasses and attendees lining up to view video in 3D HD. All that is missing is the popcorn.

When past years focused on the battle of technologies--is it DVB S2? How about MPEG-4?--this year seems to be all about a hyper HD experience--one that seems to jumps off the screen.

My, how far we have come from the jumbotron video of underwater HD seascapes. (you can still catch a glimpse of a fish or two, but that is not what is drawing the crowd). With mixed interest from content creators and audiences, the time seems to have come for 3D.

From what I hear, Hollywood is coming onboard with some animated projects, such as "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs," and "Shrek Goes Forth", assisting in this 3D resurgence I am looking forward to seeing some of the demonstrations, particularly the Panasonic theater today and the NHK 3D experience tomorrow.

~Nicholas Mitsis, Manager, Media Communications

NAB 2009 is in full swing!

I have been manning Intelsat's outdoor 'Technology Pavillion' with our partners Raysat, demo-ing the AT&T CruiseCast Service (42 channels of live video and radio to the backseat of your car); AND SisLive, manufacturers of the uPod transportable SNG unit.

The ATT service rides on Intelsat's Galaxy fleet and is a great example of the mobile applications that are driving the next wave of demand for satellite capacity. The service looks beautiful and obviously would appeal greatly to commuting families and tailgaiters.

The uPod hardware is so small that the demo uses a Mini Cooper. EVERYONE stops by and takes a picture. It is really model-changing technology for broadcasters because their field team can be as small as a single person. The camera operator can leave the car to get the shot while the unmanned vehicle completes the uplink. We will be integrating the uPod with Intelsat's automated access software which is used by newscasters to schedule time on our capacity.

Intelsat's own Peter Ostapiuk, Regional Vice President, Cable & Emerging Media delivered some great insights on the 'battle for the next billion media consumers' panel, pointing out that devising a creative business model to monetize 'on the shelf' programming will provide broadcasters and programmers alike additional revenue streams. Programmers have valuable content and viewers are willing to pay for on-line access to content if the quality is there.

Intelsat's booth has been hopping today, and the '20 Years of HD' has been a successful theme.

Tonight: our annual customer fete at Postrio!

2009 NAB Show

Las Vegas has welcomed the Intelsat team and more than 100,000 broadcasters and content professional for the 2009 NAB Show. The show is so large, exhibitors not only fill up the entire Las Vegas Convention Center, they’re also housed in the Las Vegas Hilton. Final touches are being completed for all of the trade show booths this evening with the grand opening at 9 a.m. Monday.

The Intelsat team is busy today finalizing the presentations for our annual Media Breakfast. With our 10 satellite development program underway, we have a lot of information to share with programmers and broadcasters interested in expanding distribution of their content to global markets. We also expect to hear from our customers on current topics like high definition (HD), new media distribution, and even 3-D format introduction!

The general session kick-off at 9 a.m. will include a “State of the Industry” address by NAB President and CEO David Rehr, who will also be presenting a NAB Distinguished Service Award to actress Mary Tyler Moore.

The 12 conference tracks at NAB 2009 include:

• Advertising innovations summit


• Broadband convergence fundamentals


• Broadcast engineering conference


• Broadcast management conference


• Digital cinema summit


• Director of photography workshop


• MPEGIF master class


• Military & government summit


• Postproduction world conference


• Producer/director workshop


• Telecom 2009

Stay tuned to the Intelsat BLOG for the latest ideas, tools and innovations presented during this year’s action-packed NAB 2009.

~ Lynette Simmons, Director, Marketing Communications

Intelsat, awarded "Operator of the Year" at SatCom Africa 2009

Intelsat was awarded “Operator of the Year” at the 2nd SatCom Africa, held 7th April, 2009, in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mr. Flavien Bachabi, Intelsat’s Regional Vice President Africa, accepted the award on behalf of Intelsat. Mr. Bachabi, thanked the audience and organizers for the recognition of Intelsat services in the region.

Intelsat has been offering innovative solutions to Africa for nearly four decades. We were the first to introduce satellite services in the region, the first to launch pan-regional broadband networks in many African nations and most notably, Intelsat was the first satellite operator to bring cellular backhaul services to the region and offer satellite technology as an innovative vehicle to expand healthcare and education throughout the continent.

Mr. Bachabi then dedicated the award to Intelsat’s customers and partners, many of which were in the audience.

In addition to Intelsat being recognized for its dedication to the region, many of Intelsat’s customers and partners also received awards during the event. They include:

• Salim Suleman, Managing Director, AFSAT, awarded “Satellite Personality of the Year”
• Gateway Communications, awarded “Satellite Service Provider of the Year”
• Safaricom, awarded “GSM Backhaul Operator of the Year”

The Award and Certificate will be displayed in the Intelsat South Africa Office, Sandton, South Africa.

~ Vevette Husbands, Program Manager, Trade Shows & Events

SatCom Africa 2009 opened to a full house

SatCom Africa 2009 opened to a full house with all of the major satellite operators, key service providers and end users from Africa, Europe and China represented. The Chairman, Mr. Russell Southwood, Chief Executive of Balancing Act set the stage with an overview of the African telecoms market. Even though he highlighted the undersea cables planned for the region, he also focused on satellite technology and its important impact to the communications infrastructure for the region.

Building on Mr. Southwood’s remarks, Intelsat’s Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Mr. Phil Spector captivated the audience with a keynote address, further discussing the satellite services trends that will shape the African market, Intelsat’s regional heritage and its ongoing commitment to invest in Africa. Mr. Spector passionately discussed ways in which satellite will continue to play a vital role in bridging the digital divide, the key applications best served via satellite and Intelsat’s plans for bringing significant capacity to the continent. By far, the most notable satellite addition - the New Dawn satellite (built for Africa…by Africa) which is the joint venture between Intelsat and Convergence Partners announced late last year.

The last topic Mr. Spector discussed centered on creating an interference-free space environment where Intelsat is taking a leadership role in bringing together other satellite operators, industry organizations and supporting certification training for technicians and satellite engineers.

Later that day, Mr. Flavien Bachabi, Intelsat’s Regional Vice President, Africa, participated in an interactive panel with other service providers where the discussion revolved around the measures being taken to alleviate the problems of capacity scarcity in the region. This session led nicely into another panel discussion concerning financing satellite projects in the region, which our partners of New Dawn, Convergence Partners and NedBank, were the main participants.

~ Vevette Husbands, Program Manager, Trade Shows & Events

A wonderful start for SatCom Africa 2009

The Intelsat Customer Appreciation Dinner, where customers and partners spent time with Intelsat celebrating past successes and future business opportunities, was a wonderful start for SatCom Africa 2009.

Mr. Phil Spector, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, and Mr. Flavien Bachabi, Regional Vice President, Africa, opened the evening with brief speeches, confirming:

• The value of powerful partnerships to Intelsat;
• Our vision for Africa;
• and Our investment in the region

The lively evening culminated in a magnificent display of African culture in music and entertainment, which was the theme for the evening.

The event was attended by more than 100 customers, representing 38 companies and 14 countries from Africa.

~ Vevette Husbands, Program Manager, Trade Shows & Events