Ukrainian DTH firm Lybid TV has ceased broadcasting as the group enters bankruptcy proceedings in the wake of the country’s political crisis.
It declared force majeure on its operations and said it owed money to its satellite capacity provider…
Ukrainian DTH firm Lybid TV has ceased broadcasting as the group enters bankruptcy proceedings in the wake of the country’s political crisis.
It declared force majeure on its operations and said it owed money to its satellite capacity provider Eutelsat as well as other companies.
Lybid TV launched in July last year with two transponders on Eutelsat 36B at 36E, ahead of Ukraine’s first telecoms satellite Lybid that had been due to be placed by Land Launch to 36.2E in April.
But Canada’s MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates, which is building the satellite’s payload, recently said this could be delayed by around four to six months as the ground rollout is slowed under the fallout from Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
It is the latest in a series of delays for Lybid, which was originally set to launch towards the end of 2011 before interference concerns with Eutelsat’s W4 and W7 birds came to light. Russia’s ISS-Reshetnev is building Lybid’s platform under the US$254m project being funded by Canada’s export credit agency.
Lybid TV’s multi-year deal with Eutelsat had enabled it to broadcast up to 50 digital channels, comprising national Ukrainian broadcasts and European and Russian brands including Travel Channel, Tiji, Gulli, Universal Channel, Boets and Zagorodnaya zhizn.