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This just in...

Havana, Cuba is the probable cause of the satellite jamming.

The following is the text of a letter from Loral Skynet to Atlanta Direct-to-Home, the service providing satellite broadcast services to several Los Angeles based Iranian broadcasters. After hiring TLS, Inc. to identify the source of the jamming, they learned that the most probable source of the interference was Havana Cuba. The matter is now in the hands of the FCC.

Loral Skynet
500 Hills Drive
P.O. Box 7018
Bodminster, NJ 07921

Peggy A Courter
Director , Client Services
Tel:(908) 470-2362
Fax:(908) 470-2459
Email: pcourter@loralskynet.com

July 11, 2003

Mr. Michael Day
President
Atlanta Direct-to-Home (ADTH)
5388 New Peachtree Rd.
Chamblee, GA 30341

Dear Mr. Day,

As reported in the news media, it appears that an unknown entity is blocking certain signals into Loral Skynet's Telstar 12 satellite, which signals carry Farsi language and Iranian programming. Skynet is taking all appropriate actions to resolve the interference, and regrets any inconvenience to Atlanta DTH ("ADTH") and its customers caused by the interference. This letter summaries our understanding of the source of the interference and our efforts to resolve it.

Interference into Transponder 10 on Telstar 12 was first reported to Skynet by one of ADTH's uplinkers on July 5, 2003 at approximately 5:35 p.m. EST, and ADTH spoke with Skynet operations personnel within minutes thereafter to discuss the problem. Skynet immediately instituted its standard procedures for detecting the cause of the interference, including investigating any cross-pole carrier or adjacent operator issues and any recent uplinking activity that may have adversely affected the carrier. Skynet determined that none of those factors contributed to the interference, and that the Telstar 12 satellite and Transponder 10 were, and had been, operating properly (and, in fact, continue to operate properly). As a result, Skynet concluded that the interference was caused by a third party.

Similarly, ADTH instituted several procedures to attempt to resolve the interference, including reducing its bandwidth and splitting capacity among three carriers. Despite these procedures, intermittent interference continued.

Accordingly, Skynet contacted a transmitter geo-location service, TLS, Inc., to attempt to locate the transmit source of the interference. TLS was able to provide an ellipse of the most probable location of the source of the interference, which it identified as being in the vicinity of Havana, Cuba. As the services being interfered with are licensed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the probable source of the interference is not within United States boundaries, on July 9 Skynet forwarded the information concerning the interference and TLS's investigation to FCC personnel. The FCC has contacted TLS for further technical discussions.

As Skynet continues its efforts to eliminate the interference into Telstar 12, I want to reassure you that Skynet understands ADTH's concerns and those of its customers regarding their broadcasting integrity, and Skynet remains full committed to resolving the issue as quickly as possible.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like to discuss this matter further.

Sincerely,

Peggy A. Courter
Director, Client SErvices

cc: Wei Hu, Esq.
Jacky Hse

Copies of the original fax can be seen at:

http://members.cox.net/iranazad/Skynet1.jpg

http://members.cox.net/iranazad/Skynet2.jpg

"If you want on or off this Iran ping list, Freepmail me”