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.

Intelsat CEO admits “difficult year”

Intelsat CEO Steve Spengler sat down with journalists from Luxemburger Wort newspaper ahead of Intelsat’s board meeting in the country on September 9th In the interview, he admitted that the satellite operator was having a “challenging” year, not helped by the aborted last-minute launch by an Arianespace rocket of its Intelsat 37e satellite on September […]

September 8, 2017

Inmarsat savaged by market

London-based satellite operator Inmarsat saw millions wiped off its share price on September 5th after a highly negative equity report from investment bank Numis. Numis delivered a “SELL” note to its clients, saying there were many reasons to be cautious about Inmarsat’s future revenue and profit margin prospects. Numis said it didn’t contest management’s view […]

September 6, 2017

More problems aboard Intelsat’s I-33 satellite

There are reports that Intelsat’s I-33 satellite is suffering another problem. What has been confirmed is that the satellite, launched in August 2016, has ‘lost’ about 3.5 years of its planned life in orbit. Intelsat is making a $78 million insurance claim because of the overall issues. CEO Stephen Spengler in September 2016 said that […]

September 4, 2017

Indonesia must re-point 15,000 satellite dishes

PT Telkom of Indonesia suffered a satellite malfunction on August 25th on its Telkom-1 satellite. It is not entirely clear whether there’s a problem with the Lockheed Martin-built satellite, launched in 1999, or some sort of operator error. However, PT Telkom is talking of making an insurance claim and thus seemingly accepting that the problem […]

August 30, 2017

SpaceX Internet constellations planned

Elon Musk’s SpaceX makes regular headlines for its rocket launches – and impressive landings – but there’s every prospect that Musk’s next major venture extends beyond Tesla cars, Hyperloop trains, and even journeys to Mars, with his plans to build two truly massive satellite constellations for global broadband coverage. Plan 1 is for a total […]

August 21, 2017

Can Apple’s $1bn make any impact on programming?

The Wall Street Journal report that Apple is going to invest $1 billion annually on original TV content and in an attempt to climb aboard the perceived success of Netflix and Amazon, has raised more questions than answers. The fact that Amazon is increasingly moving into the slam-dunk guaranteed success of sports exclusivity is a […]

August 18, 2017

Thailand wants control of Thaicom-9

Thailand’s Bangkok Post newspaper is reporting that the country’s government is seeking – at least – partial control of the upcoming Thaicom-9 craft. Thaicom-9 is due for launch in 2019 to the 119.5 degrees East orbital slot. “State telecom enterprise CAT Telecom will probably be assigned to partly operate and manage the state satellite,” Deputy […]

August 17, 2017

Danish broadcasting ‘hurt by Netflix’

Denmark is an important European market, but – along with its Scandinavian neighbours – tends to be overlooked. Now, equity analysts at investment bank Exane-BNP/Paribas have taken a close look as part of its STAMP (Survey of Telecom & Media Preferences) examination of the country, and in particular viewing habits and preferences. And the news […]

August 15, 2017

Intelsat gets investor support

Last week it emerged that the Bank of New York Mellon was just one of many investors which had raised their holdings in Intelsat, which – if its share price is any guide – is seeing a degree of optimistic buoyancy that has been absent for some time. The optimism is a new feeling, given […]

August 7, 2017

Ergen: “We want to become a connectivity company”

Charlie Ergen, co-founder and chairman/CEO of DISH Network (and the separate Echostar satellite business), talking to equity analysts following on from DISH Network’s quarterly trading results (see separate story), said that DiSH “wanted to become a connectivity company”. Ergen had been asked whether the recent rumours naming DISH along with Softbank and cellular operator Sprint, […]

August 4, 2017