STMicro may see windfall from Stern satellite move
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SAN FRANCISCO - Shock jock Howard Stern&#39;s jump to satellite radio could create a $180 million windfall for Europe&#39;s biggest chip maker, STMicroelectronics, which becomes the new chip supplier to Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.
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The wireless-gateway maker expands its all-important SBC deal--but the clock may be ticking.
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(InfoWorld) - Satellite navigation boxes using the GPS (global positioning system) are no longer the preserve of luxury car owners in Europe. Now you see them in the humblest vehicles on the Continent's highways. That's part of the reason why the European Commission Wednesday proposed taking on the entire â¬3.4 billion ($4.7 billion) cost of creatingÂ Galileo, Europe's answer to GPS, which is based in the U.S. "Do consumers really want this product? To answer that you must ask why consumers like GPS so much," said transport commissioner Jacques Barrot at a press conference Wednesday. "Consumers are answering the question by buying more and more GPSes," he said. "Galileo will make money, and with the E.U. as its owner, it will generate income for the E.U. budget." Barrot's confidence wasn't shared earlier this year byÂ the companies picked to share the cost and benefitsÂ of building the 30-strong constellation of satellites. Unsure of the costs and unconvinced of Galileo's eventual commercial potential, theÂ companies dragged their feetÂ to a point in June where the Commission abandoned the partnership with the private sector. Under the original plan, public money was supposed to pay for the first four satellites and then the private consortium of companies building the satellites were to pay for two-thirds of the 26 remaining satellites. This amounted to a private sector cost of â¬2.4 billion. The companies -- AENA, Alcatel-Lucent, EADS, Finmeccanica, Hispasat, Inmarsat, TeleOp, and Thales -- were to recoup their investment costs by then operating the satellites and collecting fees once they were in operation. Barrot said Wednesday that the Commission wants the â¬2.4 billion to be paid for out of European Union funds. The E.U. has already committed â¬1 billion to the project. He said that he initially wanted the 27 member states of the E.U. to fill the funding gap through payments directly to the European Space Agency (ESA). But as 10 countries in the E.U. aren't members of the ESA this was dismissed, leaving the E.U. budget as the only possibility for ensuring that the project is financed. With the E.U. as the sole owner of Galileo, it will still need companies from a variety of industries to build the system's infrastructure, Barrot said. Astrium (EADS group) and Thales Alenia Space (Thales and Finmeccanica groups) approached the ESA for some of this work recently, the commissioner said. "Galileo is extremely important for the strategic autonomy of Europe. We can't let this opportunity to manage the know-how in this advanced technology pass," Barrot said. Transportation ministers of the E.U. member states will meet in Luxembourg on Oct. 2 to debate the Commission's proposal. Countries with most to gain from the project include France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. They are believed to support the Commission. However, others including the U.K. and the Netherlands, remain to be convinced that there is a real need for a European GPS. Separately, U.S. president George W. Bush said in a statement issued by the U.S. mission to the E.U. Wednesday, that he will stop the GPS signal from being interrupted or degraded by military purposes. One of the main justifications for launching Galileo was that GPS is ultimately at the mercy of the U.S. Department of Defense, and could be jammed for strategic reasons, potentially endangering private users' lives. Galileo is intended to be purely for civilian use. However, the U.S. recently has taken steps to assure GPS users that they can count on the system. "President George W. Bush has accepted a recommendation to end procurement of Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites that have the capability to intentionally degrade the accuracy of civil signals," the White House press secretary said in a statement Tuesday. Although the U.S. stopped the intentional degradation of GPS satellite signals in May 2000, this new action will result in the removal of "Selective Availability" capabilities, thereby eliminating a source of uncertainty in GPS performance that has been of concern to civil GPS users worldwide. This decision reflects the nation's commitment to GPS users that this free global utility can be counted on to support peaceful civil activities around the world, the statement said.
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Could the megaretailer still be a growth stock?
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It took three 1,000-pound satellites to launch Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.&#39;s subscription radio service two years ago. Now the company is betting that one man - shock jock Howard Stern
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The satellite radio provider has gotten ahead of itself, but selling now would be a mistake.
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By MATTHEW FORDAHL    SAN JOSE, Calif.  -- A $239 million satellite toppled to a factory floor last year because nobody bothered to check that it was secure before moving it, according to a NASA investigation board's report on the mishap...
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GENEVA, Dec. 14  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- STMicroelectronics , a leader in technologies for digital radio, has announced an agreement with iBiquity Digital Corporation, the developer and licensor of HD Radio(TM) technology, to develop a base-band receiver for HD Radio broadcasting.
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Though Howard Stern&#39;s defection from broadcast to satellite radio is still 16 months off, the industry is already trying to figure out what will fill the crater in ad revenue and listenership that he is expected to leave behind.
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The company's latest nanotech development could pay dividends over the long term.
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Shock jock Howard Stern, a lightning rod for furors over broadcast standards, won&#39;t have to take network heat much longer. The trash-mouthed provocateur is ditching over-the-air radio to claim his future in orbit: via satellite radio.
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At the same time that the US makes its first transition to an all-digital terrestrial broadcasting system for television, member states of the European Union may all be rolling out mobile satellite services (MSS) for no less than satellite television. Imagine a Sirius/XM-style portable network, whose receivers will likely be integrated into cellular phones, on a continental scale as soon as 20 months from now.
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SWE-DISH Satellite Systems has been awarded a frame contract from the U.S. Department of Defense to a total value of USD 20 million for mobile satellite communications equipment and support services.
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Intel'sÂ deal with STMicroelectronics to create a new semiconductor company was a hit this week with IT investors, who continue to reward bold merger and acquisition moves in hard-fought tech markets like chips and Internet services. Rumors of aÂ Salesforce.com hook up with GoogleÂ andÂ Yahoo's continuing search for Web 2.0 companiesÂ also are stoking investor interest.
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Commercial space flight doesn't offer too many opportunities for investors, but there is one tiny prospect.
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A deal could transform the little-known Nano-Terra Inc. into one of nanotechnologyâs most closely watched start-ups.
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Executives of Sirius Satellite Radio are again hinting at a potential merger with XM Satellite Radio that they say would bring strong gains for investors.