(8 July 2005 2:00 pm)

MUMBAI: As T- Sky is gearing to launch its direct-to-home (DTH) TV service, the 80:20 Tata-Star DTH joint-venture has appointed Vynsley Fernandes as principal consultant, project, for T-Sky.

Fernandes may report to Tata Sky Ltd (the JV has been renamed from the earlier Space TV Ltd) CEO Vikram Kaushik and would be part of the chief technology head Yigs Riza’s team. Riza has been on deputation from Star's Hong Kong headquarters.

As an integral part of the tech team, Fernandes would be responsible for setting up the broadcast centre, interactive technology and overseeing the satellite segment of the business.

The company, which is still scouting for professionals to provide a range of high quality services, can leverage international talent from Star's sister companies in other parts of the globe.

Prior to this assignment, Vynsley Fernandes was operations director at Star News and was overseeing the engineering, technical, operations and production aspects of Star News.

The Tata-Star JV, has already engaged 11 Ku band transponders on Insat 4A,scheduled to launch in August-September. According to company sources, the test run of the this service is planned for November.

Also Read:

Tata-Star brands DTH service as T-Sky

Space TV, Sun Direct book transponders on Insat 4