Mobile Broadcasting Corp. (MBCO) of Tokyo plans to begin transmitting video and audio programming via satellite to Japanese consumers July 1. The services will be delivered via the MBSat-1 satellite, built by Space Systems/Loral of Palo Alto, Calif., and launched March 13 by an Atlas rocket. On March 19, the satellite's 12-meter-diameter mesh antenna supplied by Northrop Grumman Corp. of Los Angeles was successfully unfurled. Prom its geostationary orbital slot at 144 degrees east longitude, the MBSat-1 satellite will broadcast TV and radio programming in the S-band to mobile customers equipped with specialized terminals. The satellite is owned jointly by MBCO and SK Telecom of Seoul, South Korea, which is developing a similar service for that country.
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