New satellite for NZ broadcasters and internet

US-based satellite company PanAmSat Holding Corp says it has redirected a transmission beam on the PAS-8 satellite from South East Asia to cover New Zealand instead.

The company said in a statement it had been given authorisation from the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to redirect the Ku-band South East Asia beam of the PAS-8 Satellite to cover New Zealand and other islands in the southwest Pacific, including Fiji and New Caledonia.

Services it planned to transmit on the beam included broadcast television, broadband internet, emergency response, disaster recovery and satellite news gathering, the company said.

PAS-8 also relays cable television for networks including TVB, ABS-CBN, Turner Broadcasting, ESPN, CCTV, CNBC Asia, Discovery Networks and NHK.

It provides video, telecommunications and internet access throughout the Asia-Pacific region, and its high-power Ku-band spot beams cover Australia, northeast Asia and now the southwest Pacific.

The company said its customers were able to use the PanAmSat ground station in Napa, California, to send signals directly to Asia or to receive PAS-8 signals in the United States for onward transmission over other PanAmSat satellites worldwide.

A rival satellite operator, Intelsat Ltd, said late last year it planned to buy PanAmSat for US$3.2 billion ($5.19 billion) to create the world's largest commercial satellite fleet.

- NZPA