1worldspace

WorldSpace is a digital satellite radio network. It supplies the whole area Africa and also parts of Asia and Europe.

At present, it consists of two satellites AfriStar and AsiaStar. Also planned was an extension of the bid on Latin America ( Ameristar ). WorldSpace sends (1467-1492 MHz) at L-band. There are 50 channels available which also multimedia services can be used for digital radio stations but per satellite. The radio programs were largely commercial partners like BBC, NPR, CNN, Virgin Radio, Fox News and Bloomberg. Posted been mainly in English but also in French, Hindi, Arabic, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Urdu and German. The up to 100 radio channels in different signal quality at bit rates up to 128 kbit / s in MP3 format ( near CD quality ) are broadcast. At the start of the broadcasts in 1999 many of the programs were free -air. Then they were encoded to a large extent and were only to receive a monthly fee. 5 % of the channels are available exclusively to the non-profit organization First Voice International (formerly World Space Foundation ) are available.

The company WorldSpace was founded in 1990 by the Ethiopian- American businessman Noah A. Samara and works with many industry partners: inter alia, Alcatel Space, Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits, Micronas, Rohde & Schwarz.

WorldSpace digital satellite radios were sold by manufacturers such as JVC, XM Radio, Hitachi and Panasonic. A radio set here consists of a portable satellite receiver and a palm-sized satellite antenna, which must be aligned with one of the two satellites AfriStar and AsiaStar. AfriStar supplies since 1999, Africa and parts of Europe and the Middle East. AsiaStar supplies since 2001, large parts of Asia. In the Middle East overlap the emanations of both satellites, so here are both to receive. Plans for a third satellite Ameristar to supply Central and South America failed because of disputes frequency, since the frequency range used by WorldSpace is also used by the U.S. Air Force.

The Landesmedienanstalt Saarland has the WorldSpace Europe Holdings issued a nationwide approval of a total of 23 niche radio programs for a period of ten years each. The offers are to be sold as pay-audio service nationwide via satellite.

In April 2013 Omnisat ( data channel) were WRN1, WRN2 and receivable.