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.
The near-5 million new Netflix subscribers reported this week (and taking its overall total to 100 million this coming weekend) is another indicator that ‘conventional’ advertising supported linear TV is under extreme pressures. Add in the drift of advertising from TV to online video, digital, social media and mobile, and there are plenty of elements in […]
Rocket company SpaceX, already happy that it can recover the all-important first (or main booster) stage of its Falcon 9 rockets, is working towards recovering 100 per cent of the rocket. This includes the protective fairings (which envelop the actual satellite on top to the rocket) and also the rocket’s second stage. Each portion of the […]
The Financial Times is reporting that there may be challenges ahead for the proposed takeover by 21st Century Fox of Sky’s European assets. The risks focus on the recent problems at 21stC’s Fox news division with a slew of problems, not least recent allegations of sexual impropriety at Fox News, which – says the newspaper […]
The precise cost of launching last week’s SES-10 satellite into orbit is rumoured to have been in the $30 million-$40 million range, or about half the $60 million-$70 million normal fee. SpaceX performed a flawless launch using a ‘pre-flown’ first stage, and in a later briefing, SpaceX founder Elon Musk also said that the satellite’s […]
New, much smarter UK set-top boxes from Sky (SkyQ) and TiVo increasingly tend to use the first EPG ‘landing page’ for promotions of programmes, sports events and movies. Older boxes (Sky+, cable STBs) were obliged to give “due prominence” to the UK’s 5 national networks (BBC1, BBC2, ITV, C4 and Channel 5). In a major […]
There’s been a fair amount of negative comment these past months about satellite’s future role and prospects for investors. In particular, the threat from broadcasters transferring their loyalties from DTH transmission to OTT supply via broadband is frequently seen as a negative from some DTH operators. ‘Not so,’ implies a major 15-page report to investors […]
South Korean conglomerate Eugene Investment & Securities, in a March 20th note to investors, says that it expects LG Display, the screen and panel division of LG Electronics, to report extremely buoyant Q1 results this week. Eugene says it expects quarterly sales for LG Display to be down 9.4 per cent (to 7.193 billion Won), […]
Currently a would-be satellite operator has to make its application to place a satellite through an approved licensing process, usually via a national agency which then submits the application to the ITU where it is formally registered. The FCC, for example, demands a returnable bond from applicants which is only repaid once the satellite is […]
Israel-based satellite operator Spacecom has had a terrible 18 months. In November 2015, its Amos-5 satellite failed despite being less than four years old. Then, in September last year, it lost its Amos-6 satellite in a catastrophic explosion atop a Falcon-9 rocket when a ground-test went badly wrong. That explosion didn’t just cost Spacecom dearly in […]
Every year the Satellite Show in Washington DC presents a panel made up of the CEOs of the very top satellite operators. SES has always been present… except this year. SES CEO Karim Michel Sabbagh usually sits alongside the heads of Intelsat, Eutelsat, Telesat and Inmarsat, but this year told trade mag Space Intel Report […]
Netflix acquires Affleck’s InterPositive
Movistar Plus adds mandatory ads when accessing TV channels 
SES adds new MEO capacity
UK Lords warn of AI impact on creative industries
Eutelsat completes refinancing plan
MVP launches MVPW; signs ESPN deal
Live streaming latency vs on-demand infrastructure reliability
Eurovision Sport provides live subtitling for Paralympic Winter Games
ESPN, Disney, Pixar, NHL team for Inside Out Classic alt-cast
£30m government funding for UK satellite comms