30 March 2004

Orlando, Fla. - March 30, 2004: Northern Sky Research today released its newest market research and survey report entitled, "DVB-S2 Technology and Markets," which assesses the satellite broadcast and communication industry's second generation digital modulation and coding standard: This report concludes the DVB-S2 standard not only satisfies the needs of consumer direct-to-home broadcasters but also sets the stage for a paradigm shift in the delivery of broadband interactive services via satellite.

Based on interviews with numerous technology providers, this report provides an overview of the soon-to-be-ratified air interface protocol specification. The DVB-S2 standard is designed to promote development of interoperable technology and services and despite its European pedigree, like its DVB-S predecessor, it is poised to become an international standard widely-adopted by satellite operators and service providers around the world.

A survey of chipset vendors, equipment suppliers and system integrators indicated that 70% will launch DVB-S2 compliant products in the next 24 months in one of three target market segments: broadcast applications, interactive services and professional systems. Based on the data collected, revenues from the DVB-S equipment market in 2004 will reach an estimated $450 million with professional systems and broadcast applications accounting for approximately 45% of the total.

"Over the next five years, these market segments will grow more slowly than interactive services, and an increasing portion of satellite broadcast and communications equipment deployed will comply with the DVB-S2 standard," stated Gregory Peckover, satellite technology and marketing consultant and author of this report.

Although receiver chipsets will not be commercially available until the end of 2004 and products will not be on the market before the second quarter of 2005, projected annual DVB-S2 compliant equipment revenues are expected to reach $1.3 billion by 2009, with interactive services accounting for almost 70% of the total. High compound annual growth rates are expected given the tremendous economic incentive for satellite operators and service providers to reduce the per subscriber cost of space segment and terminal equipment.

Over the past ten years, researchers have continued to develop more spectrum efficient transmission and compression technologies. For broadcast applications such as business TV, the result is a potential three-fold increase in satellite transponder utilization. That is to say, only one third of the bandwidth is required to achieve equivalent picture quality and interference robustness.

For interactive services such as high-speed Internet access, the results are even more profound. "With the right combination of adaptive coding and modulation techniques, Ka-band space segment and web acceleration technologies, it is possible to increase broadband satellite system capacity by 150% to 450% and reduce service provisioning costs so dramatically that a viable business case now exists for addressing consumer and small business customers, in addition to large enterprises," noted Peckover.

"DVB-S2 Technology and Markets" is now available from Northern Sky Research. For more information on this report, including a table of contents, list of figures and executive summary, please contact Ken Marini at (781) 826-9484 or visit www.northernskyresearch.com.