AMOS an Israeli company offering direct, high-power links between the US, Europe and the Middle East has announced that its new AMOS-2 satellite will be available for pre- launch sale at this year‘s National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) trade show in Las Vegas which kicks off on 6 April.

The new capacity on AMOS-2 is scheduled for launch in the first quarter of 2003, an official release informs. US customers requiring immediate access to AMOS‘ unique coverage in Europe can take advantage of a packaged service on sale at the Vegas convention. This includes access to AMOS-1 space segment and fiber between Washington and Europe. AMOS also offers uplink services through agreements with a number of teleports in Eastern Europe.

Co-located at 4 degrees West longitude with AMOS-1, the AMOS-2 satellite will offer hot beam coverage of Europe and the Middle East, cross-strapped to accommodate direct access from the Eastern United States. This connectivity is ideal for broadcasters and programmers with material originating in the U.S. but destined for distribution in Europe and or the Middle East in DTH quality the release states.

MD & CEO of AMOS David Pollack said: "The configuration of this satellite provides all the advantages of high power, regional distribution - without the need to purchase a backhaul satellite or terrestrial feed from the US. We believe this is the first time a company outside the US or Europe has offered connectivity that was specifically designed and placed in orbit to link these three key markets."

The AMOS Ku-band satellites feature up to 54 dbW at beam center, for state-of-the-art digital TV distribution to cable headends, DBS and direct-to- home TV. AMOS broadband services also include IP connectivity, distribution to local ISPs and business data transmissions for private and public networks.

Since the satellites are co-located, customers will have redundancy built-in, as well as the option for AMOS-1 customers to extend their contracts on AMOS-2 the release states.

AMOS is owned and operated by Spacecom, Ltd. a joint venture of Israel Aircraft Industries Ltd. (IAI), Eurocom Group, General Satellite Services Co. (GSSC), and Mer Services Group Ltd.