Posted: Tue, Mar 15, 2005, 7:36 AM ET (1236 GMT)
A US-based company announced Monday plans to develop a new satellite TV system to serve a wide swath of south and east Asia. ProtoStar, incorporated in Bermuda but headquartered in San Francisco, said Monday it won a round of venture financing from New Enterprise Associates and SpaceVest to deploy a direct-to-home (DTH) TV system. The amount of the investment was not announced. According to news reports, ProtoStar will deploy three satellites to provide DTH service in much of southern and eastern Asia, with the first scheduled to be in service by mid-2006. There was no announcement of any satellite manufacturing or launch contracts, however, or whether the company plans to own its own satellites or lease capacity on other existing or planned satellites.

Related Links:

•  Red Herring article
•  ProtoStar press release