On February 8, 2006, Intelsat announced a contract with MediaFLO USA for capacity on the Intelsat Americas-8 (IA-8). The satellite is to support Qualcomm’s MediaFLO mobile TV rollout in the U.S. by providing ubiquitous connectivity to MediaFLO transmitter sites located around the country. By utilizing Ku-band capacity on the IA-8, Qualcomm is able to ensure complete connectivity for their planned nationwide deployment of mobile TV services in this market.

Given these encouraging announcements, the question now arises if satellites will be used more frequently for mobile TV in all markets. It is assumed that both Qualcomm and Crown Castle recognized the difficulty and cost required to only connect all sites via terrestrial/wireless means. The ability of satellites to quickly enable broadcasting of content to unlimited sites was likely viewed as quite favorable as wireless providers scramble to develop mobile TV networks and strategies.