G Sat

G Sat

Type	Satellite television
Country	Philippines
Founded	not yet officially launched
Slogan	The biggest and widest satellite TV in Asia
Owner	Global Broadcasting and Multimedia Inc.
Official Website	www.gsat.tv

G Sat is a subscription-based Direct-To-Home (DTH) satellite television service commercially available in the Philippines. G Sat is owned by the Global Broadcasting and Multimedia Inc. (GBMI), a multinational corporation based in Samoa, duly registered in the Philippines with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).^[1]

It is operated and managed by international and professional management groups engaged in the business of: satellite wireless transmission, WIMAX transmission, landline transmission, satellite internet data transmission, satellite direct-to-home TV operation, terrestrial television operation, broadband data service, head end in the sky operation, content aggregation, production and distribution, consolidation of telecom and broadcasting management.^[2] Channel content is received from program providers, compressed and broadcast via SES New Skies NSS 11 in DVB and NTSC color format exclusively to its subscribers using the Integrated Receiver-Decoder. ^[3][4]

To receive DTH broadcast signals, subscribers must acquire a 60 cm, a satellite dish antenna, an Integrated Receiver-Decoder (IRD) and a Smart Card. IRD is the digital recorder or receiver which is a small sized box required to receive DTH signals. IRD receives the signals from the 60 cm. mini-dish and then decodes it. There is a remote that comes with the IRD that makes it easy to operate. Smart Card performs generation of authorization of EMM and ECM decryption and interpretation to determine whether the consumer shall be granted access to the content. ^[5] G Sat will be equipped with a conditional access system, employing Conax technology, to secure and protect its broadcast content from signal piracy.^[6]

As of 2008, GBMI is currently on the test phase of satellite signal and planned dealership.^[7]

Channel Lineup

The following channel line-up as of November 25, 2009.^[8][9]

Status of Competition and Controversy

Dream Satellite TV filed a complaint with the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) against Global Broadcasting and Multimedia, Inc. (G Sat) for offering A DTH service in the Philippines without a franchise and a license from Philippine authorities, namely the Philippine Congress for a broadcast franchise and the NTC for a Certificate of Public Convenience .^[10] Aside from Dream, the Lopez group SkyCable an ABS-CBN sister company also filed a similar complaint against GBMI. It argued that GBMI's illegal entry into the industry will result in the unnecessary duplication of an existing service that existing cable TV and DTH-TV service providers already adequately provide. ^[11]

References