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.

Kacific plans expansion

Kacific is a satellite operator concentrating its resources on most of the Pacific islands, stretching from Indonesia and the Philippines in the West to Tonga and Guam, French Polynesia, New Zealand in the South and East Pacific. According to a report in trade publication Space News, the embryonic business is now planning a significant expansion. […]

January 3, 2019

OneWeb denies Russian investment

OneWeb, which wants to place at least 600 satellites into orbit and supply the planet with broadband service, has denied it wants Russia to take a stake in the business. Reuters reported the original story that the would-be satellite operator wanted to bring Russia into its scheme. Reuters said that that discussions with Russian prime […]

January 2, 2019

C-band all the way

Various equity analysts have reported in some detail on how they see the C-band restructuring evolving over the US. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) closed its timetable for comments on December 11th on its ‘Notice of Proposed Rulemaking’ last week. The FCC is not likely to make a decision until mid-2019, but a consortium of […]

December 20, 2018

Avanti goes Chapter 15 in US

Avanti Communications has had to enter Chapter 15 bankruptcy in the US as part of its recent financial restructuring. Chapter 15 is a section of the US bankruptcy code that deals with jurisdiction and under Chapter 15 a business based outside the US can obtain access to the US courts and the formula is used […]

December 19, 2018

Verizon backs CBA C-band proposals

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) deadline for comments and responses to the C-Band Alliance’s (CBA) closed on December 11th. The CBA’s request is for a “market-based approach” to the sale of 180 MHz of satellite spectrum over the US for the use of 5G. A report from Sami Kassab, a satellite analyst at investment bank […]

December 17, 2018

Netflix 2019: Dealing with “frenemies” and rivals

A report from analysts at MoffettNathanson (MN) suggests there are already different strategies emerging from the rival OTT suppliers to Netflix. MN says that 2018 will go down as the year in which some of the largest traditional media companies started to show their cards vis-a-vis their over-the-top distribution strategies. “With three large-scale mergers (AT&T-TWX, […]

December 12, 2018

Netflix 2019: Dealing with “frenemies” and rivals

A report from analysts at MoffettNathanson (MN) suggests there are already different strategies emerging from the rival OTT suppliers to Netflix. MN says that 2018 will go down as the year in which some of the largest traditional media companies started to show their cards vis-a-vis their over-the-top distribution strategies. “With three large-scale mergers (AT&T-TWX, […]

December 12, 2018

CBA assures smaller US C-band telcos in the US 

The C-Band Alliance (CBA) says it is happy to assure its smaller regional and rural clients (that is, non-Tier 1 carriers) that capacity for their efforts to support rural broadband and help address the digital divide across the US will be made available. But the spectrum will need to be bought. The CBA is looking […]

December 11, 2018

AT&T “No more satellites” hurts SES+Eutelsat

Europe’s two satellite giants SES and Eutelsat have not enjoyed the best of times on the stock market these past few trading days. Their prospects have not been helped by news from AT&T-owned DirecTV which says that it will not be ordering any more DTH satellites for the US. DirecTV has some 19.6 million subscribers […]

December 10, 2018

Inmarsat wins major arbitration award

Speciality services provider RigNet, which supplies telecoms connectivity to oil rig crews, VSAT customers, mobile connectivity and wireless broadband, has suffered a significant set-back in a dispute with Inmarsat. The arbitration has been heard at the  International Centre for Dispute Resolution. The dispute is centred on a $65 million “strategic” capacity lease in 2014 for […]

December 5, 2018