GECs
Insat 4A orbit raised further
MUMBAI: The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (Isro) telecommunications satellite Insat 4A’s orbit has been raised further. In the second orbit raising manoeuvre conducted at 1.24 pm on 24 December 24, the Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) on board Insat 4A was fired for 42 minutes by commanding the satellite from Master Control Facility (MCF), Hassan.
With this LAM firing, Insat 4A perigee (closest point to the earth) has been raised to 31479 km. The apogee height remains at 36,008 km and the inclination of the orbit with respect to the equatorial plane has been reduced from 0.85 deg to the present 0.12 deg. Insat 4A now has an orbital period of 22 hours 13 minutes. The satellite will now be in the continuous radio visibility of MCF-Hassan.
Insat 4A was launched by European Ariane-5 launch vehicle on 22 December, 2005 from Kourou, French Guyana. The launch vehicle had placed Insat 4A in an orbit with a perigee (closes point to the earth) of 622 km and apogee (farthest point to earth) of 36,152 km.
The first orbit raising manoeuvre carried out from MCF, Hassan on 23 December had put the satellite in an intermediate orbit of 13733 km perigee and 36,008 km apogee.
The satellite came within the radio visibility of MCF this morning at 07.19 am and all the necessary operations like earth acquisition and gyro calibration were carried out before the second orbit raising manoeuvre was started.
The next orbit manoeuvre to place Insat 4A in near Geosynchronous Orbit is planned on 26 December, 2005. Deployment of the two solar panels and the two antennas will be carried out subsequently.
GECs
Zee scales syndication with global tie-ups, 350 plus channel MCN
Vertical, dubbed and audio formats boost digital reach
MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. is giving its content library a fresh passport. The company has stepped up its syndication push, signing global partnerships, experimenting with new-age formats and building a multi-channel network that now spans more than 350 channels.
With the newly secured MCN licence, Zee can manage, distribute and monetise content across leading digital platforms at scale, strengthening its presence in the fast-growing creator and short-form ecosystem.
To keep pace with changing viewing habits, the company is also reshaping its content into formats built for the small screen in your hand. In a tie-up with micro-drama platform Story TV, select titles are being reworked into vertical, short-duration episodes tailored for mobile-first audiences.
Beyond India, the syndication team is widening its global footprint with foreign-language dubbing and regional partnerships across Europe, Africa and Latin America, opening up fresh markets for Indian stories.
Zee is also tapping into the audio boom. It has begun licensing audio remake rights for legacy properties such as Zee Horror Show, with several more titles lined up for audio-first adaptations.
On the digital front, the company has made progress in monetising non-exclusive rights for library films, while converting select shows and movies from horizontal to vertical formats to improve discoverability on short-form platforms.
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. business head syndication Vinod Johri, said syndication has emerged as a strong growth lever for the company. He noted that the combination of a large MCN network, global partnerships and new formats such as vertical video and audio is helping build a future-ready engine that extracts more value from the content library.
Together, these moves signal a platform-agnostic approach to storytelling, as Zee repackages, localises and redistributes its IP across geographies, formats and screens, ensuring its catalogue keeps working long after the first broadcast.
