Advanced Television

Inside Satellite

Chris Forrester

Chris Forrester is one of the most experienced and highly regarded journalists in the field. His insight and analysis, particularly in the satellite and pay-TV arena, is highly prized. He has written for all the major business journals in the sector as well as several national newspapers.

France, Germany resists ESA plan for high-res satellites

The European Space Agency (ESA) has a scheme to build and launch a series of satellites capable of capturing extremely high-resolution imaging satellites to be used for European Union military and government uses. The main problem, which emerged at a session held at the Paris Air Show, is the cost of the scheme. Europe’s ESA […]

June 18, 2025

Who wants EchoStar’s spectrum?

Charlie Ergen’s EchoStar share price rocketed 43 per cent on June 13th on news that Donald Trump has intervened with FCC chair Brendan Carr over the dispute between the FCC and EchoStar. June 16th saw EchoStar’s share price (Nasdaq:SATS) finish the day at $25.11 (€21.72). A week ago they were $15.99. In a nutshell, the […]

June 17, 2025

AST SpaceMobile confirms Ligado payment

AST SpaceMobile will pay around $550 million (€474.9m) to Ligado for its L-band spectrum over North America. The news was confirmed late on June 13th. The payment will allow Ligado itself to pay the $535 million it owes to Viasat/Inmarsat. The Viasat payment will then see the end of its objections it has over Ligado’s Chapter […]

June 16, 2025

Bank ups Rocket Lab value

Investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald, in a report on New Zealand and Long Beach-based Rocket Lab, has raised its price target from $29 to $35. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Andres Sheppard raised the firm’s price target on the NASDAQ index and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares after hosting meetings with management. The firm sees Rocket […]

June 12, 2025

Eutelsat “racing” to find extra cash

Eutelsat’s new CEO, Jean-François Fallacher, is “racing” to secure fresh funding in order to save OneWeb according to Bloomberg. The constellation of low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites is seeking to challenge Elon Musk’s Starlink and the upcoming Jeff Bezos-backed Project Kuiper LEO system. The industry expects Fallacher to be successful. “After all, why would he have […]

June 11, 2025

Starlink causes problems for United Airlines

Starlink has enjoyed considerable positive press these last few days, notably winning operating licences in India and South Korea, for example. But pilots flying some of United’s aircraft fleet are not so pleased. United Airlines has had to disable Starlink transmissions for its passengers on some flights because of interference to the aircraft’s normal operating […]

June 10, 2025

Hanwha dumps Eutelsat OneWeb

South Korea’s Hanwha Systems is selling its shares in Eutelsat (equal to a 5.4 per cent stake) for a reported €78 million ($85m). Citi Bank says the shares are on offer at just €3, which is some 13.9 per cent below Eutelsat’s current share price. The move makes a 74 per cent loss for Hanwha […]

June 9, 2025

Bank: “FCC fires shot across the bows at EchoStar”

Earlier in May the FCC launched a review into EchoStar’s compliance with certain 5G wireless coverage obligations (as part of their efforts to build the fourth national wireless network in the US) and raising questions about the buildout extensions granted in September 2024 and EchoStar’s utilisation of 2GHz mobile-satellite service (MSS) spectrum. EchoStar has filed […]

May 30, 2025

IRIS2 is “dead in the water”

The SmallSat Europe conference at the RAI Congress Centre in Amsterdam heard speaker after speaker express anxiety over the planned European IRIS2 mega-constellation. The project, which will eventually bring together low Earth orbit, mid-Earth and geostationary satellites in a global ring of craft with ultra-secure communications, is looking extremely fragile if the event’s speakers are […]

May 29, 2025

How will Musk square the Indian subscriber circle?

Starlink subscribers around the world pay anything between $120 (USA), A$139 (Australia), €49 (average in Europe) and Ksh 6500 (in Kenya). But SpaceX has a major dilemma in setting its pricing structure in India. Not only is India a market with plenty of established cellular competition, but also vigorous competition from Eutelsat’s OneWeb and RelianceJio/SES, […]

May 28, 2025