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.
By general agreement the planet is awash with satellite capacity for data traffic. While high-profile satellite providers which have high-profile ‘neighbourhoods’ of DTH clients will always command commensurate high prices for their transponder capacity, other client sectors can frequently pick and choose their satellite operator. The problem is that there’s significant over-capacity of bandwidth, and […]
The number-crunchers have spoken. A series of bank notes to investing clients following on from the ‘Big Three’ (SES, Intelsat and Eutelsat) and their latest suite of results issued on October 27 and 28th. However, the comments are extremely mixed. For example, equity analysts were unanimous that last year’s reduction in US governmental and military […]
While Wall Street and the financial newspapers start digesting the news that AT&T has struck a merger deal with Time Warner (TW), the debate inevitably moves onto ‘who’s next?’ Research house Ovum says that the implications for anyone in the content and delivery business are “fundamental”, and just about everyone on either side of the […]
Paris-based satellite operator Eutelsat was faced last week with continued protests from supporters of Kurdish Med Nuçe and Newroz TV channels. Eutelsat has taken the channels down following objections. Med Nuçe ceased being carried on October 3rd while Newroz went dark on October 11th. The past few days have seen protestors in Paris hand out […]
Last week Sky delivered a somewhat ‘light’ Q1 results statement that was much criticised by the market given that many of its usual headline numbers on DTH subscriber growth (or fall) and Churn data was missing. Sky said a week ago that Q1 trading was “slower” although price increases had helped drive revenues to a […]
Satellite operator SES is not due to publish its Q3 trading update until October 28th, but for one analyst there are concerns for this year’s numbers and guidance. Giles Thorne, equity analyst at investment bank Jefferies, suggests in his note to clients on October 12th that the SES guidance for this year now looks “at […]
One set of results – albeit limited in detail – generated some extremely different conclusions and comments from equity analysts who closely watch Sky’s trio of European operations. Sky issued its Q1 results on October 13th.. Berenberg Bank’s comments were headlined “Underwhelming” saying that the absence of most key performance indicators, and of EBIT, took […]
In August a Luxembourg-based offshoot of Beijing-based Xinwei Group announced it had bought Spacecom of Israel (Space Communication Ltd), operators of the AMOS fleet of satellites for $285 million, an impressive – some might say courageous – premium of 41 per cent on the stock market valuation. The deal has been somewhat stymied by the […]
Rocket company SpaceX says it is homing on the probable cause of the September 1st explosion which destroyed a Falcon 9 rocket and its valuable satellite cargo. At an October 9th speech at the National Academy of Engineering in Washington DC, SpaceX president and CEO Gwynne Shotwell told delegates that it seemed there was no […]
October 13th will see Sky unveil its first-quarter results. Analysts are looking to the results to show the progress – or lack of it – in particular at its Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland divisions. Back in July 2014, BSkyB announced it was going to buy its German and Italian sister pay-TV broadcasters. The deal […]
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