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.
Would-be subscribers outside North America will have to wait some tome for access to SpaceX’s Starlink broadband-by-satellite system. Starlink VP Jonathan Hofeller, speaking at last week’s Euroconsult World Satellite Business Week virtual edition, told attendees that as far as North America was concerned Starlink would stay as a ‘direct to consumer’ business. Starlink is already […]
Eutelsat’s CEO Rodolphe Belmer, speaking at a Euroconsult World Satellite Business Week virtual panel, told delegates that recent agreements and renewal contracts struck with Canal+, Sky Italia and MultiChoice were all struck on good terms. “The broadcast segment for our company is extremely resilient,” he explained. “We are able to stabilise revenues. It will stay […]
Italian broadcaster Mediaset’s delivered better-than-expected Q3 results with its Italian revenue beating the market’s consensus by some 3 per cent. No Full Year 2o20 guidance was provided, but the trend appears to be supportive. Its core financials for Q3 saw group revenue rise by 2 per cent year on year to €556 million. Breaking down […]
Intelsat is currently working its way through its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganisation. Prior to the declaration of bankruptcy, the company’s debt burden was some $15.2 billion. It was massively weighed down by interest payments on that debt, costing the company more than $200 million per quarter-year. Intelsat says it is looking to mitigate a major […]
AST & Science is planning a mega-constellation of satellites, called SpaceMobile, to provide 2G/3G/4G/5G connectivity anywhere on the planet, including aircraft broadband connectivity. Texas-based AST & Science (AST) has won investments from the likes of Vodafone and Japanese e-retailer Rakuten and bringing the amount raised to $128 million. Its first test-satellite will reportedly launch later […]
The satellite industry’s big 5 operators (Intelsat, SES, Eutelsat, Telesat and Viasat) have all now reported their quarterly numbers and – in summary – they are not good. Sami Kassab, an analyst at investment bank Exane/BNPP, in a useful summary note to clients says that overall, operating trends for the industry remain challenging with Intelsat […]
The rumours that some sort of consolidation could take place between SES and Eutelsat refuse to die. At the November 5th results conference, analyst Patrick Wellington from Morgan Stanley almost seemed to appeal to SES CEO Steve Collar to come clean and explain the position. Collar politely declined the invitation to deliver any information – […]
OneWeb, which should be emerging from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy in early December, has shipped a batch of satellites to the Russian launch site at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, in Russia’s Far East. Vostochny, which means ‘Eastern’ in Russian, is Russia’s second spaceport and designed to take the launch pressure from its main rocket site at […]
The European Space Agency (ESA) is asking its 13 member nations to stump up an extra €230 million ($268m) to aid the development of Arianespace’s next generation Ariane 6 rocket as well as its Vega-6 rocket. The bill could rise. To date the Ariane 6 R&D programme has already cost a budgeted €2.83 billion and […]
Later in 2021 Eutelsat will launch a large satellite, its Eutelsat VHTS (for Very High Throughput) Konnect craft. It will use this craft, with its 230 spot-beams and overall capacity of some 500 Gb/s throughput, to provide two-way broadband connectivity across Europe and much further afield. Eutelsat is already marketing a preliminary ‘Konnect’ service over […]
Altice France rejects Orange, Bouygues, Free-iliad offer
Study: Less linear TV, more hyperdistribution
Canal+ app on Thomson TVs across Europe
Study: Italian Piracy Shield risks outweigh intended benefits
TiVo & Free Live Sports launch 45 channels across smart TVs and cars
Netflix, Spotify sign video podcast deal
Rugby League Ashes returning on BBC
South Africa to get Starlink permission “within weeks”
Streaming vs TV: What the streaming boom means for TV channels
The rise of mobile streaming in the UK: A shift in how the nation consumes entertainment