By Steve Garcia -
With Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) CEO Mel Karmazins recent announcement of possibly getting involved in Liberty’s (NASDAQ: LCAPA) Worldspace acquisition (OTC BB: WRSPQ), it is time to take a look at how it could pan out. I say could, because none of us are privy to what is actually taking place, but it is more apparent now than it ever has been that something is definitely going on between Liberty and Sirius, and Liberty and Worldspace through Worldspace’s Bankruptcy proceedings. The best news for Sirius shareholders is that no cash will be flowing from Sirius, at least not up front, for whatever finally does transpire.
In order to get a better grasp of the picture, let’s take a look at the Worldspace infrastructure. The company has 2 satellites currently in the air, which are nearing the end of their operational life. The company’s stated mission is to provide a variety of high quality programming through a subscription based service that uses low cost portable satellite radios and is available in underserved markets that today lack programming choice. Worldspace is the first and only company with rights to the world’s globally allocated spectrum for digital satellite radio. Its broadcast footprint covers over 130 countries including India and China, all of Africa and the Middle East and most of Western Europe, an area that includes five billion people and more than 300 million automobiles. Its two fully operational satellites and ground infrastructure are based on proprietary and patented technology.
The Worldspace Satellite network has 2 satellites (Afristar and Asiastar) that service 3 large geographic areas, through three beams which that are each capable of carrying up to 80 channels. The satellites are L-Band satellites with traveling wave tube amplifiers and on board baseband processors which link with Worldspace radio receivers. The receivers are equipped with micro integrated circuitry that processes the satellite signal into high quality audio and data transmissions. Broadcasters can uplink their content through a centralized hub site or an individual feeder link station. The satellite then transmits the signal received to any combination of the three downlink beams. Worldspace broadcasts in the frequency 1467-1492 MHz of the “L” band. Worldspace provided four of the original content channel programming on XM Satellite Radio, now part of Sirius XM, America’s and the world’s most successful Satellite Radio company. Worldspace was a founding shareholder of XM, and Worldspace proprietary and patented technology is used in each XM receiver. The Worldspace Satellite Radio Service has been available in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Europe.
The Afristar Satellite was to be replaced first, and a new satellite dubbed Afristar 2 was constructed and scheduled for launch in 2008. However, the launch never took place and the satellite was stored in Toulouse France due to financial issues Worldspace was having. The new satellite is more powerful and can cover more of Europe as well as part of Russia. There were several waivers granted for its launch as a replacement for Afristar, and a petition to prevent the permission to launch Afristar 2 from Ondas, the Spanish Satellite start up was denied (“44. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the petition to deny filed by Ondas Spain, SL, IS DENIED for the reasons set forth in this Order.”)
