Fairfax, Va.-based publishing company CommTek Communications Corp. confirmed
Tuesday that it sold the rights to its satellite-television magazines,
Satellite Orbit and Satellite Direct, to a Canadian company, Vogel
Publishing.
CommTek reportedly dismissed most of its employees last Friday, including
editor Linda Casey and technology editor Jay Hylsky.
Since the 1980s, Satellite Orbit served C-band television subscribers
with programming listings and editorial content, such as movie reviews and
technology reports.
Satellite Direct was developed in the mid-1990s for the direct-broadcast
satellite television audience. It has since faced growing competition from
DirecTV Inc. and EchoStar Communications Corp., which each back their own
printed programming guides.
Former Satellite Direct publisher Phil Swann said printed programming
guides are seeing increasing competition from on-screen programming guides,
especially among younger viewers.
