Market demand will decide if new satellites are used more for broadcasting or Internet

Bird Satellite Communications Inc says it will provide broadcasting capacity on its proposed new satellites, despite reports that the company is wedded to an Internet-only strategy. Scott Gibson, Bird’s VP legal and regulatory affairs, says if Industry Canada approves its March 15 licence application, the first of two satellites to launch will include 24 C-band transponders on which Canadian broadcasters will have right of first refusal. "It’s a mischaracterization of the whole Bird enterprise," he says, "to say there’s nothing in it for broadcasters. Absolutely not. There’s plenty in there for broadcasters." While media coverage over the past two weeks has focused on Bird’s plans to offer broadband Internet to rural and remote areas, Gibson notes that it will be the second satellite – slated for launch in 2005 – that would act as the company’s primary Internet delivery vehicle. That satellite would include Ku- and Ka-band spot beams. The first satellite would go into orbit in 2003 and would include standard C-band capacity, and a Ku-band payload that can be configured either for spot beam or wide area coverage, depending on market demand. "That C-band package is suitable for broadcast, for HDTV, all the traditional uses a broadcast provider would need," says Gibson. He adds that whether the satellites are used primarily for broadcasting, broadband Internet or a combination of both, will be driven by market demand. "If there is a huge demand, as we expect there to be, for the Internet side of it, then you’ll see more traditional levels of revenue out of the broadcasting sector related more exclusively to the C-band. On the Ku-band side of the equation, the revenue will come from the broadband Internet." Gibson is one of three former Canadian Satellite Communications Inc (Cancom) executives involved in Bird. Heading up the new $1-billion venture is Richard Stursberg, former president and CEO of Cancom and the Canadian Cable Television Association. The other Cancom alumnus is Andrew Briggs. Bird Satellite is the only company, other than Telesat Canada, applying to launch two satellites into the 118.7 degree orbital slot. In addition to providing broadband Internet, Telesat says it also plans to serve existing broadcast customers. "The move toward high-res, high-definition broadcasting signals is going to put a lot more demand on capacity. It will clearly outstrip what the Anik F1 bird can deliver in the marketplace," Dennis Billard, Telesat’s VP business development, said in an interview from Washington. Loral’s interest in C-band coverage Billard also speculates that Bird’s minority partner, U.S.-based Loral Space & Communications Ltd, is very much interested in the C-band payload. "Loral would be interested in establishing another C-band cable community at 118 (degrees) to match their other investments at 119 and 120. But it would be a North American play, rather than just Canadian," he says, adding, "There wouldn’t be a business plan in my estimation for just multimedia and Ka-band to the far north." Bird Satellite plans to act strictly as a facilities carrier, wholesaling capacity to Internet service providers, telcos or direct-to-home satellite TV companies throughout Canada and the U.S. that want to offer high-speed Internet to existing customers in markets where DSL and cable modems aren’t available. A study done for Bird Satellite by PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates that about 75 per cent of Canadians will have access to high speed Internet by 2003. That leaves some three million homes and 30 per cent of small businesses that will never receive high-speed Internet, except by satellite, according to the study. "That’s the opening market in Canada," explains Stursberg. "It’s a bit like the direct-to-home market. All those people who could never get cable because they were just too far out, if you’re direct-to-home, that’s where you go first, to the people who are television-deprived. These are the people who are broadband-deprived.

Market demand will decide if new satellites are used more for broadcasting or Internet

Broadcast | March 29, 2001

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