MANILA, Philippines - Businessmen engaged in cable TV, content, and consumer electronics sectors have jointly invested $250 million in a new satellite cable brand called Global Satellite or GSat.

GSat, the brand carried by local company Global Broadcasting and Multimedia Inc. (GBMI), is a direct to home (DTH) Satellite TV brand established to serve areas without wired cable.

The major partners in GBMI are Philip Chien, president and CEO of Destiny Cable Inc.; Wilson Tieng, president of Solar Entertainment Corp.; and David Lim, president of Solid Group Inc., which sold 250,000 MyPhone handsets in 2008.

Lim, who serves as chair of Global Broadcasting, said in an interview that the $250 million covered only the “core facilities” needed to put up the service.

“That’s doesn’t factor in the cost of the set top boxes which will decode the satellite TV signals,” he said.

“We envision GSat to become the cable association’s satellite arm,” he said.