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.

SES: “No meaningful growth until 2019”

Another negative report on satellite operator SES has emerged from investment bank Berenberg. The bank downgraded its advice to investors from “Buy” to “Hold”, saying a combination of delayed satellite launches, satellite health issues and the termination of low-value added contracts means that – in the bank’s view – SES will not deliver meaningful growth […]

November 3, 2017

2018 a crunch year for UK broadcasters

A comprehensive report from investment bank Exane/BNPP on the Future of UK TV presents a list of topics that make worrying reading for British commercial and pay-TV broadcasting. The bank’s report finds that (especially among younger consumers): TV continues to lose share of audience to online; and OTT providers are set to maintain strong growth. […]

November 2, 2017

OneWeb plans May 2018 launch

OneWeb is a proposed mega-constellation of an initial 648 low-orbiting satellites designed to bring affordable broadband access to the whole planet.  Eventually, OneWeb is planning a total of 4425 satellites in its fleet. Founder Greg Wyler, speaking last week before the USA’s Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Technology, said the first two test satellites […]

October 31, 2017

Intelsat’s upside: “Let’s talk C-band”

A 75-minute analyst call from Intelsat CEO Steve Spengler on Octber 26th covered all the operator’s bases, but the questioners kept returning to the vexed topic of Intelsat (and Intel’s) hopes to see some of Intelsat’s C-band frequencies over the US reallocated for 5G usage. The news that this revolutionary concept even exists has helped […]

October 27, 2017

Avanti numbers postponed to January

Last week, Inside Satellite was specifically told by a representative of Avanti Communications that the London-based satellite operator would release its end-of-year numbers (to June 30th) no later than November. The company last week had suffered two days of heavy share trading which took Avanti’s share price to its lowest-ever value. However, in an after-hours […]

October 24, 2017

Netflix ‘tipping point’ metrics: True or fake news?

The week has been full of Netflix news: Impressive results and revenues up 30 per cent, an extra $1 billion in acquisition spend and plans from Nielsen that it will start measuring some Netflix viewing patterns. Of course, Netflix (and its rivals) know only too well what their actual consumption numbers are. As well as […]

October 20, 2017By Chris Forrester

Could SpaceX herald a $1 trillion a year space business?

A thought-provoking feature in Fortune magazine suggests that the world might be on the cusp of a new clutch of space pioneers. It says that the likes of Elon Musk (SpaceX), Amazon’s Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin rockets) as well as cash from Bill Gates (Microsoft), Google’s Sergey Brin and even Virgin’s Richard Branson could all […]

October 19, 2017

Eutelsat’s aggressive satellite expansion over MENA

If ever there was a ‘bargain basement’ acquisition that could resonate well beyond the $75 million purchase price it is Eutelsat’s buying of Noorsat in a deal which closed on October 13th. Noorsat is a capacity re-seller, with some 30 transponders under overall contract at the Nilesat/Eutelsat ‘hot spot’ at 7/8 degrees West, but also […]

October 16, 2017

“Poor prospects” for SES numbers

A report to investors from equity analysts at Exane/BNPP does not make happy reading for SES. The satellite operator will unveil its latest results on October 27th, and the bank is not expecting good news, and is advising shareholders to “Sell”. “We expect SES to report €480 million of revenues for Q3/17 implying an 8.5 […]

October 10, 2017

Intelsat fights back; Market likes C-band plan

All last week there was something of a ‘tug of war’ between Intelsat and other major industry players regarding the Intelsat/Intel proposal to see some Intelsat C-band frequencies leased to cellular operators and the access used to spur the adoption and availability of 5G services over North America. SES, for example, was extremely cautious on […]

October 9, 2017