To mark the 50th anniversary of Sir Edmund Hilary`s conquest of Mount Everest, three European TV broadcasters - the BBC, PRO TV of Romania, and TV Catalunya of Spain - are using the Europe*Star 1 satellite to transmit live daily news of their national expeditions, from their base camps on the mountain back to TV studios in their respective countries.
This type of TV coverage, in which each crew has taken a portable television studio up to 7000m, is without precedent. The Romanian expedition will also provide continued coverage of the ascent above that altitude, using special camera equipment designed to function in extreme weather conditions (-50o C).
"Europe*Star 1 offers characteristics that allow our TV channel to uplink with an exceptionally small dish, directly into Europe and throughout the expedition" commented George Iliescu PRO TV`s General Manager.
Llu'is Palah'i, TV Catalunya Sport Producer said "I am very impressed with Europe*Star`s engineering support and cooperation during this TV adventure. It is the first time we can uplink from base camp, with a 90 cm antenna, and downlink directly in Barcelona, without having to turnaround the feed in either Turkey or Israel. Our live programme, called `The Night of the Summit`, will allow viewers to follow the Catalan expeditions as they are reaching the summit".
David Chegnion, Europe*Star`s General Manager added "We are very excited and honoured to be playing such a crucial part in maintaining live satellite coverage from Mount Everest, allowing the audience to monitor the progress made by each expedition. This illustrates how the performance of the latest generation of satellites enables live coverage from the most inhospitable parts of the world."
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Europe*Star is a satellite owner-operator headquartered in London, with regional marketing offices in Cape Town, South Africa and New Delhi, India. Europe*Star operates its own mission control centre in Toulouse, France, for tracking, telemetry & control of the satellites. A joint venture between Alcatel Space of France and Loral Space & Communications of the USA, Europe*Star is a member of the Loral Global Alliance.
Europe*Star offers satellite capacity on its geostationary satellites; leasing whole & fractional transponders for full-time and occasional use requirements. Brought into service at the start of 2001, the innovative Europe*Star 1 satellite has five high-power beams covering Europe, Southern Africa, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and South East Asia. Its Europe*Star B satellite provides additional capacity for markets in Central and Eastern Europe.
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