* Iridium Satellite names new CEO
Iridium Satellite has named Matthew Desch as its new chief executive. Desch replaces Dan Colussy, a founding investor as well as chairman of parent company Iridium Holdings, who has also been serving as the company’s interim chief executive since Carmen Lloyd’s retirement earlier this year. Desch was previously chief executive of Telcordia Technologies.
* Construction commences on Eagle Broadband’s IPTV headend
Eagle Broadband began construction of its super headend and satellite farm in Miami, Fla. The headend will collect signals from over 30 satellites that cover North America to deliver content from more than 250 cable channels. The installation is also in position to grab specialty Latin content from additional satellites positioned further east over the Atlantic Ocean. Construction is scheduled to be complete by October 1, after which Eagle Broadband intends to roll out its IPTVComplete service.
* Westell, Verizon split ways on phone/modem/router
Westell Technologies issued a terse statement saying after next month it will no longer work with customer Verizon on the Verizon One. The Verizon One is an all-in-one product incorporating a cordless phone, a DSL modem, a Wi-Fi router and a display screen. Westell said it will continue as Verizon’s primary supplier of DSL modems and gateway products.
* Charter co-sponsors Wisconsin bluegrass event
BlueHighways TV and Charter Communications are co-sponsoring the 2nd annual Bluegrass Masters Heritage Event on Oct. 21, featuring Jesse McReynolds and his band The Virginia Boys. In conjunction with the event, Charter Communications will feature BlueHighways TV’s The Jim & Jesse Story, a two-part special edition of BlueHighways’ original series American Journeys that follows the extensive career of Bluegrass music legends Jim and Jesse McReynolds, on its free On Demand service in Wisconsin throughout October, November and December.
* Brightcove snags some development money
Brightcove picked up $5 million in financing from a group of investors led by GE Commercial Finance’s Global Media & Communications operation. Brightcove will use the money to continue development on its technology that allows content providers to deliver video over the Internet.
* Revised: Blonder Tongue sheds some patent rights
Blonder Tongue Laboratories earlier this month announced that an investment subsidiary had sold off a batch of patent rights to Moonbeam LLC for roughly $2 million.
Blonder Tongue said it will retain a non-exclusive, royalty-free, global license for those patents, which are tied to the company’s lines of interdiction and addressable subscriber equipment. Blonder Tongue said it will continue to build and distribute those products under the protection of the patent rights being sold to Moonbeam.
Editor’s note: This item is a reposting of a brief that originally appeared in this space on Sept. 13, 2006. The revised item removes some information that was incorrectly associated to Moonbeam.
