Cablevision Sticks with DBS Plans

[Steve Mehs]

On Tuesday, executives with Cablevision said they are pushing forward with their satellite TV plans, but didn't reveal details about company efforts to launch a DBS service with orbital spectrum located at 61.5 degrees.

Cablevision's Jim Dolan said the company, known for its cable TV operations in the New York City area, has made an $80 million investment in the Rainbow DBS platform for 2003. The company's satellite is scheduled to launch in August, a flight that has been delayed by technical issues with the Atlas rocket set to carry the bird.

"As we move forward, we will continue to consider all of our options," Dolan said of Rainbow DBS. "We will seek to maximize the value of the asset, and will continue to take advantage of strategic opportunities."

Cablevision reported that its digital video customer base grew to 401,400 in the first quarter. The high-speed Internet customer count grew to 852,800 during the three-month period. First quarter net revenues for the company were $982 million, and Cablevision reported a net loss of $140 million.

From SkyReport (http://www.skyreport.com) (Used with Permission)

[RichW]

80 million bucks is very much of an investment, and if they continue to lose 400 million bucks a year, the digital video business will be short-lived unless they raise large amounts of addtional capital.

[Jacob S]

Perhaps that is why they are trying this new investment, they are trying something new to see if they can get this to help their overall business. Since they have a name for themselves they may think they can make this work with satellites.

[Mike123abc]

They really have no choice. If they do not launch the satellite they lose the DBS licenses. They are pretty much stuck either selling the licenses/satellite or trying out the service. I still think it would be great if Dish bought the satellite. Dish could move it to 119, move E7 at 119 to 110 giving dish even more power on the main DBS locations. It would also work good at 61.5 do to LIL HDTV for major nets for eastern cities.

[Jacob S]

And they could use 157 for west coast cities right? Or is the look angle too low for some west coast cities? Maybe DirecTv would bid on these as well and get them, having more capacity as well.

[rvd420]

Originally posted by Jacob S
And they could use 157 for west coast cities right? Or is the look angle too low for some west coast cities? Maybe DirecTv would bid on these as well and get them, having more capacity as well.

157 is not to low for some western cities.
You can get 157 just about everywhere west of the Mississippi River.

Dallas,TX
252.80064 Azimuth
16.362894 Elevation

Denver,CO
243.509104 Azimuth
20.095553 Elevation

[Jacob S]

OK, that would be good and would work for some western cities then. I imagine there would be more problems than what there would be here for getting the signal in because the elevation is still lower.