PanAmSat Corporation, which owns PanAmSat-4, which has many popular Indian satellite channels such as Sony, ATN, BBC, ESPN, Home TV and ABNI, has been taken over by the US electronics major, Hughes Electronics and Hughes Communications Galaxy. A joint statement said the Hughes Communications Galaxy business of Hughes Electronics would be combined with PanAmSat to form a new public company to be named PanAmSat Corporation. Hughes would own 71.5 per cent of the new PanAmSat.

Arunachal CM quits, forms new party

The Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr. Gegong Apang, resigned following differences with the Congress high command, and formed a new party, Arunachal Congress. Mr. Apang, the longest-serving Congress Chief Minister in the country, called on the Governor to tender the resignation. Sources said he had formed the party with 51 MLAs extending support to him in the 60-member House.

Venezuela offers new fuel option for power plants

Venezuela offered a new competitive fuel option to power producers at the ‘India Power – 2000 AD and Beyond’ conference. Mr. Saul J. Guerrero, Director, MC Bitor Ltd, informed delegates that Venezuela had developed a natural bitumen-based product, Orimulsion, which could serve as a competitive alternate to the conventional fuels such as naphtha, coal and imported LNG used by power plants. The actual electricity cost of the power plants using Orimulsion stood at about 6-7 cents per kilowatt hour, said Mr. Guerrero. He asserted that an Orimulsion-based power plant would be a cheaper proposition than a plant based on imported coal.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW