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.
In more than 30 years of covering satellite TV I never thought I’d have to write a story asking why Sky UK is second best. But that’s the only conclusion on the day following BT Sport’s commitment to 4K, and Netflix’s commitment to 4K, and the availability of dedicated 4K promo channels from SES Astra […]
Satellite operator SES is not having the best of years, if you just look at their top line revenue prospects. But dig a little deeper, and according to a detailed report from investment bank Berenberg, and investors will find plenty to be enthusiastic about. The period Q4/2014 to the end of 2014 was good for […]
A major report from investment bankers Exane/BNP-Paribas states bluntly that Netflix is not just a major disrupter of all that is ‘normal’ in broadcasting, but its unique global approach to content and product, plus lower costs than its incumbents, means that Netflix is capable of “shifting the ground beneath [the traditional players’] feet”. The study […]
Aircraft ‘direct-to-seat’ entertainment and connectivity for passengers while travelling, currently represents a very modest 1 per cent of revenues for the major satellite players such as Eutelsat and SES. A major report from investment banker Exane/BNP-Paribas expects revenues from in-flight connectivity to grow to 15 per cent of group revenues at Eutelsat by 2025, and […]
Igor Komarov, who heads up the Russian Roscosmos space agency, stated June 3 that Russia intended to move more speedily to replacing its now troubled Proton launch rocket, reported news agency TASS. He said that recent failures, including a lost satellite launch in May, meant that rocket builder Krunichev would be switching to its newer […]
The CASBAA-sponsored Satellite Industry Forum heard some grave warnings that the local satellite operators face a “winter” of oversupply capacity. Speaker after speaker warned that there’s a high risk of over-supply even, while other speakers said they also wanted a slice of the action. Myanmar, for example, doesn’t have its own satellite, and U Thaung […]
John Malone controlled Liberty Global is in the news on a daily basis given Malone’s recent aspiration comments on telco giant Vodafone. Those comments have helped propel both Liberty and Vodafone’s share price to high levels (up 11 per cent this week). But will the deal happen, and if it does who will be ‘in […]
A long-forgotten pop group, The Turtles and their 1967 hit Happy Together, is the reason why US pay-radio operator could face Court-awarded penalties running into many millions of dollars. The band is still very much around and nowadays led by vocalists Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, and the pair started a Class Action against Sirius-XM […]
The past few years have seen four giant Proton rockets spectacularly fail and in the process destroying their precious – and expensive – satellite cargoes. The latest, that of Satmex-1, failed on May 16th. There is currently a Failure Review Board investigating the technical problems. But reports from Moscow suggest there may be deeper-rooted problems […]
The fallout from the May 16th Proton rocket explosion and the total loss of a Mexican satellite continues to reverberate throughout the industry. SES on May 19th told a banker’s conference in New York that it was very much focusing on using rival launch specialists to Proton (and specifically mentioned Arianespace and SpaceX). SES told […]
Survey: Home Alone named UK’s favourite Xmas film
SkyShowtime launches on United Group platforms
Report: Older audiences regularly watching influencer content
The Celebrity Traitors Final attracts 15m viewers
Spain: Orange, Vodafone add new TV channels 
Analysis: Repeat Xmas ads top consumer testing
Channel 4 appoints Nash as Director of Brand & Content Marketing
DocuBox launches Polish version
Karlén named EVP and CEO Viaplay Group Sweden
Report: Larger TV size sales continue to grow