25 Aug 2010 - DirecTV, the El Segundo-based satellite TV provider, will have a low-key "soft launch" for its service that expands its popular Sunday Ticket NFL football package to the Internet.

Starting Sept. 8, sports fans nationwide who are unable to purchase DirecTV's satellite service can access any NFL Sunday football game through online streaming. The service has a $350 subscription charge.

The soft launch comes after DirecTV tested the program in the New York market during the last NFL season.

DirecTV expects this service to be limited in scope.

"Our goal is to ensure that all fans can enjoy Sunday Ticket even if they are part of the VERY small segment that cannot get DirecTV," spokesman Robert Mercer said Wednesday in an e-mail exchange.

DirecTV will use an authentication process to ensure that buyers of the online service don't already have and are unable to sign up for a standard DirecTV subscription, Mercer said.

He didn't give details on the verification method, which will be part of the ordering process.

The method to determine eligibility won't be fool-proof, Mercer noted, "but based on the fact that the viewing experience is better on a 50-inch HD flat screen, we're not concerned about cannibalization or any impact on broadcast ratings."

Some homes can't receive DirecTV broadcasts because they don't have a direct line of sight to an orbiting DirecTV satellite.

The company did not release a statement on its new online service and will not support the launch with any formal marketing material, Mercer said.

"Based on this year's results we will be able to assess the strategy (for) 2011 and beyond," he said.

DirecTV's Sunday Ticket package has helped the company grow its subscriber base to 18.76 million customers in the United States - making its the top satellite TV provider and one of the biggest pay-TV services.

Sunday Ticket also has helped DirecTV attract higher-paying subscribers than competitor Dish Network. Satellite Internet Service
source: www.dailybreeze.com

The Defense Department said Wednesday it has awarded L-3 Global Communications a special operations contract worth up to $170 million.

The 5-year contract calls on the company to configure, test and support a portable satellite communications system. The system is to have secure and regular voice, video and data communications to special forces around the world.

The work will be done in Victor, N.Y. Orders will be completed by August 2015.Satellite Internet Servicesource:

BUENOS AIRES: 21 Aug 2010 (Dow Jones)--DirecTV Group Inc. (DTV) late Thursday said it plans to invest $46 million in Argentina to improve its satellite TV services and start offering Internet access.

News of DirecTV's plans came just hours after the Argentine government announced that it would shut down the country's top Internet provider, Fibertel, which is owned by the multimedia conglomerate Grupo Clarin SA (GCLA.BA). The government, which has been engaged in a fierce battle with Grupo Clarin over the future of Argentina's media industry, touted the announcement on its websites.

DirecTV will invest the funds through 2011. Its plans to offer broadband access through DirecTV Net will initially be limited to the province of Mendoza.

The company also said it will start producing television decoders in the southern province of Tierra del Fuego. The government recently offered tax incentives to companies that move production facilities to the province.

Earlier Thursday the government turned up the heat in its ongoing battle with Grupo Clarin, targeting its lucrative broadband Internet service.

Planning Minister Julio de Vido said Fibertel's license was invalid and he gave the company 90 days to wind up operations. The company "doesn't exist anymore," he said.

Fibertel currently has a lock on 25% of Argentina's broadband Internet market, providing service to more than 1 million customers. The loss of its Internet business could be very costly for Grupo Clarin

Internet subscriptions accounted for 480 million pesos ($120 million), or 14%, of the group's sales during the first half of this year. Satellite Internet Servicesource: online.wsj.com

21 Aug 2010 - A division of Carlsbad satellite equipment maker ViaSat was among firms that won economic stimulus funds this week from the Obama administration for projects to improve high-speed Internet access nationwide — marking the first time U.S. satellite companies have received stimulus money.

WildBlue Communications, which ViaSat acquired in February, received $19.5 million to subsidize satellite broadband service to rural communities in the West and Midwest.

About 110,000 households and 4,900 businesses without land-line broadband stand to benefit.

In addition, DISH TV provider EchoStar of Colorado got $14 million aimed at the eastern United States. EchoStar offers Internet service to its customers through WildBlue. About 42,500 households and 2,000 businesses could be eligible. “We won one award directly and one award indirectly,” said Tom Moore, a senior vice president of ViaSat. “And we’re pretty excited about that.”

Besides WildBlue and EchoStar, Hughes Network Systems — WildBlue’s chief competitor — received $58.7 million.

The industry once had high hopes for tapping broadband stimulus dollars. Early on, ViaSat and EchoStar applied for more than $480 million in stimulus grants and loans.

But to date, the $7 billion in broadband stimulus funds included in last year’s American Recovery & Reinvestment Act have been primarily spent on infrastructure projects that create jobs on the ground. Only $100 million was set aside for satellite Internet, which has a reputation of being relatively slow and expensive.

ViaSat, however, has made a big bet on changing that perception. Early next year, the company plans to launch its first satellite, ViaSat 1, which it says can provide 10 times faster speeds at roughly the same costs as existing satellite Internet services.

Hughes also is building a next-generation Internet satellite slated to launch in 2012.

In all, the Obama administration handed out $1.8 billion in stimulus funds Wednesday for 94 broadband projects in 37 states. To qualify for satellite stimulus funds, households and businesses must have no other broadband alternative, Moore said.

The money will be used to subsidize installation and equipment costs and to reduce monthly subscription fees.

According to a recent report from the Federal Communications Commission, an estimated 14 million to 24 million U.S. households and businesses don’t have access to high-speed Internet from cable or DSL.

“These are funds targeted for the unserved,” said Moore of ViaSat. “This is a very capital-efficient way to reach a large number of people. And I think when people realize how good satellite can be when done properly with the right technology — and ViaSat 1 is a big part of that — they’ll see this is an important part of the policy of how to reach the last 20 or 25 percent” of those lacking high-speed Internet access.

Moore also hopes the satellite stimulus program becomes a template as lawmakers ponder whether to expand use of the Universal Service Fund, which is a tax on telephone service.

The funds are used to make sure rural Americans have affordable phone service. Some federal officials have proposed expanding the use of the Universal Service Fund to include broadband Internet access. “The Universal Service Fund is billions of dollars every year,” Moore said.

“What we’re most encouraged about is that this (stimulus grant) be used in some way as a pilot program for a much bigger effort — which we’re just starting to debate in Washington — and that is universal service reform.”Satellite Internet Servicesource: www.signonsandiego.com

Aug. 21, 2010 - Based in his Smithville home since he was a teen, LiveNetworks CEO is on a mission to connect his neighbors via broadband.

In some circles, J.W. Breeden is still known as "that kid."

As in, that kid who was fascinated by technology in preschool, who earned his first $50 hooking up a family friend's computer when he was 7 and who had his first business customer in the seventh grade.

As in, that kid who wrote his company's award-winning business plan while in high school and who juggled college with launching his company, LiveAir Networks, an Internet service provider that competes with corporate giants while also providing broadband in rural areas where the giants don't offer service.

Today, at 24, Breeden estimates that the initial $30,000 investment in LiveAir Networks has grown 25 times . He said he has 300 clients, including a chamber of commerce, a school district, nonprofits, businesses and residents, from Smithville to Giddings to La Grange and points in between.

Last year, LiveAir Networks was the Smithville Chamber of Commerce's Employer of the Year.

Broadband is to this generation of rural Texans as the railroads, farm-to-market roads and interstate highways were to their forebears: They get bypassed at their peril.

About 100 small, fixed wireless companies, mostly homegrown, are trying to fill the state's huge rural gaps, according to Connected Texas, the nonprofit that is mapping the state's broadband services.

To hear his customers, friends and former teachers, rural Texas just needs a few more "Jay Dubs" as he is sometimes called. It helps that many of them watched the precocious boy grow up.

"He was one of those kids you could tell had a strong head on his shoulders and knew what he was doing," Smithville City Manager Tex Middlebrook said. "He's a local boy. We have all the faith in the world in him."

Breeden runs the company from his childhood bedroom. His mother remains his no-nonsense banker. The company's servers hum in the air-conditioned attic of the family's house about four miles north of Smithville.

Sitting at the kitchen table with his mother, Breeden pets his 80-pound mutt, Laptop, saying he doesn't intend to stay small.

"We have a carrier mindset, not a mom-and-pop mindset," he says. "We think like the big boys."

LiveAir Networks offers broadband services using microwave technology, usually mounted on water towers, across 2,400 square miles in parts of five counties.

It offers Web hosting and management of information technology for companies. It is ramping up its Internet phone service and designing its first fiber ring for La Grange.

Breeden said he doesn't feel constricted by his choice to start a business in rural Texas.

"The world is rural," he said. "I can go anywhere the business demand is, and I can expand for a lower cost per mile."

Though Breeden was always precocious with technology, it was his frustration with dialup, and later satellite, Internet access that sparked his interest in becoming an Internet provider for his rural neighbors.

He wrote his first business plan as a freshman at Smithville High School.

Stewart Burns was his marketing teacher and sponsor for DECA, the former Distributive Education Clubs of America, an association for high school students who compete by writing business plans for their ideas.

As a freshman, Breeden took his idea to state-level competition but lost. He then spent the next three years revising and refining it.

"His freshman year was a dream," Burns said. "By his senior year, it was a reality."

In fact, Burns said the plan was too thorough. For example, Breeden had monthly budget projections for three years, as opposed to annual budgets.

"He was light-years ahead of people," Burns said. "He had to dumb it down."

Breeden not only won state that year; he placed second in an international competition that included 268 entries.

"He's just as shrewd as they come," Burns said. "I love him to death. There's no telling what he'll do."

One thing Burns doesn't expect Breeden to do is stray far from his close-knit family and his roots.

"He has no desire to go big city," Burns said. "He feels he can sit in his home and run the world."

Breeden is the son of Charles and Dinah Breeden. His father is a Union Pacific engineer. His mother is a teacher-librarian who has written about the challenge of raising a gifted child. His sister, who is finishing college, does the billing for LiveAir Networks. His grandmother lives next door.Satellite Internet Service
source: www.statesman.com

There are different types of internet service available in the United States. Basically it falls into three categories, first a dial up connection which is through your telephone line. A downside of this service is if you only have one telephone line then when you are on your computer, you are also using you telephone line and anyone calling will receive a busy signal or perhaps your answering machine. This is a very slow form of internet connection.

The second type of internet connection service is DSL or Digital Subscriber Line which is connected by an Ethernet connection or a USB or Universal Serial Bus, port. This DSL goes through a traditional telephone line and then through a router/modem. The telephone line has a splitter that allows the DSL to function without tying up the telephone line. It is a fairly quick connection. Some companies are also upgrading this to a fiber optics line for a faster connection.

The third type is an internet connection provided by a cable company. This consists of wires from the cable company that connect you to their internet service. This type of provider may also provide your television service and your telephone service. However the internet connection is not through the telephone line. You do not need a telephone line to connect via a cable connection.

There is an additional connection that is becoming more common in the United States which is external Wi-Fi. This is a wireless connection. The computer must have a wireless capability to utilize this form of internet connection. There will be either a separate plug-in that functions as the modem so to speak that connects to an external ISPS. Or there are Hot Spots available in various parts of the country and these are increasing. It could be at the local city hall or at some parks or motels. Some places charge for access, at other places it is free. But the computer must have that wireless connection capability before any Hot Spot or Wi-Fi can be accessed.

The last major type of internet connection is through a satellite. It is said if you can go outside your home or office and see the Southern sky than you can get a satellite internet connection.

There are some circumstances that must be present to get satellite internet connection. Just as there are certain conditions that must apply to get any type of internet connection. You have to have certain computer capabilities and capacities. It is generally used in remote areas where there is no broadband or DSL available.

A satellite internet has specific account requirements. There will be some upfront costs to receive satellite internet service. This will generally include the up front installation costs and hardware costs. The service requires a small dish that will connect to your computer. There will also be a service commitment but this is not unusual for any internet service connection.

Satellite Internet Service
source: www.moviematics.com