The Sporty gent is back. This time, the former ESPN-Star Sports Asia chief Alexander P. "Sandy" Brown is hopping on to the business channel bandwagon. Brown, who is an old hand in Asia and in media with more then nine years experience and 15 years experience respectively in each of these two, has been named president & chief executive officer of CNBC Asia Pacific effective immediately. He will be based in Singapore, the CNBC Asia Pacific Board announced today.

Prior to this appointment, Brown, 39, was the president and chief operating officer of Virtual Spectator Inc, a New York-based 3-D animation technology company.

"I‘m looking forward to the opportunity to return to Asia to lead CNBC‘s efforts in the region," says Brown. "The CNBC brand connotes the best in global business news and the challenge to further develop it in Asia is an exciting one."

President of the International group of Dow Jones and Dow Jones‘ lead director on the CNBC Asia Pacific board Karen Elliott House says: "Sandy Brown will bring significant knowledge to CNBC Asia Pacific from his experience in the region and in the television industry. He has strong management capabilities and the ability to lead CNBC Asia Pacific to greater success, and we are delighted that he‘s joined us."

Bill Bolster, who supervises all of CNBC‘s international operations for NBC and is NBC‘s lead director of CNBC Asia Pacific says, "Sandy Brown has the experience to extend the scope of CNBC‘s financial programming and further enhance the world‘s best business brand. We are delighted to have him at CNBC."

Arianespace yesterday announced three new contracts for Ariane launches of the DIRECTV-7S, iPSTAR-1 and STAR ONE C1 satellites.
"We are pleased that despite the market downturn, we were able to sign these three orders - two of which are with repeat customers, and the third involving a new operator," Arianespace chairman and CEO Jean-Marie Luton, was quoted as saying in an official release. "These customers‘ choice underscores the ability of Arianespace to make competitive offers, which are backed by the success and efficiency of our launches. I would like to express my thanks to DirecTV and Shin for their renewed confidence, and to Star One for our new partnership."
iPSTAR-1
iPSTAR-1 will be the fourth satellite launched by Arianespace for private Thai operator Shin Satellite Public Company Ltd (formerly Shinawatra Satellite). It follows Thaicom 1 (orbited in December 1993), Thaicom 2 (launched in October 1994) and Thaicom 3 in April 1997.

Built on a new-generation Space Systems/Loral FS 1300 platform, iPSTAR-1 will weigh over 6,700 kg at launch. It will be positioned at 120 degrees East, and will mainly provide broadband Internet and multimedia services. Its footprint will cover not just Thailand, but all countries in the Asia-Pacific region. iPSTAR-1‘s launch is scheduled for early 2004 on an Ariane 5 heavy-lift vehicle. With its 5-meter diameter fairing, Ariane 5 is the only commercial launch vehicle in operation today capable of launching such hefty 5-tonne class satellites.

The delays on the DTH front has created concern in certain sections of the government. The Planning Commission?s Tenth working group on the information and broadcasting ministry had said sometime back: ?The policy on DTH has not encouraged any player to come so far and promote the growth of digital set-top boxes. This needs to be reviewed. The policies to treat DTH services as the source of revenue are counter-productive. They limit the growth of the market and defeat the very objective of reaching out to consumers.?