Industry & Economy
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Radio/TV
7 channels set to sign up for Insat-3A
Our Bureau
BANGALORE, May 5
THE Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is finalising allocations on Insat-3A among seven private broadcasting channels.
This includes four in the Ku band for DTH (direct-to-home) purposes and three in the C band for head-end in the sky (HITS) operators under the conditional access system. Agreements are to be signed shortly for these, according to the ISRO Joint Secretary, Mr S.K. Das. DD and DoT have been its main customers until recently.
The ISRO Chairman, Dr K. Kasturirangan, today told presspersons that the multipurpose satellite, launched on April 10, would be declared operational by the end of May.
The ISRO hopes to wean away all or some of the 70 private broadcasting channels and users from foreign satellites with competitive pricing in the coming years.
Dr Kasturirangan said these channels would be a potential business of $120 million. The Insat system's transponder capacity was being augmented and stood at 120 after the launch of Insat 3A on April 10. Allocations on 3A and the forthcoming satellite, 3E, around June-July should bring these users into Insat fold, Dr Kasturirangan said.
He expected ISRO to fill the gap further when the next generation 4A and 4B are also put in orbit in the coming years.
ISRO, according Mr K.R. Sridhara Murthi, Executive Director of Antrix Corporation, is in talks with major US and European industries to jointly develop satellites for the global market.
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