Eutelsat Communications has announced that over 700 hours of capacity has so far been booked on five of its satellites to support the intense media coverage in Rome that followed the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and the election of Pope Francis.
Demand for capacity reportedly accelerated when the College of Cardinals began deliberation on March 12 in anticipation of a signal of white smoke and the first declaration by the new Pope from St Peter’s Square
Demand for capacity reportedly accelerated when the College of Cardinals began deliberation on March 12 in anticipation of a signal of white smoke and the first declaration by the new Pope from St Peter’s Square.
Capacity has been booked to date by Arqiva, The Associated Press, GlobeCast, M-Three Satcom, SIS LIVE and Telenor on Eutelsat Ku-band satellites in order to transmit live and pre-recorded content from Rome to studios across Europe and to North America. Eutelsat’s NewsSpotter service that operates via the KA-SAT Ka-band satellite has also reportedly been called on by Italian and international broadcasters to complement newsgathering operations.
Eutelsat’s Booking Centre coordinates the allocation of occasional satellite capacity with news agencies, broadcasters and service providers from minimum periods of 15 minutes for up to several days for the coverage of news, sports and cultural events.
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