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.
It was widely reported on July 12th that the BBC is to face tough external scrutiny, and perhaps a complete restructuring. The government is setting up a panel of eight advisors to look at how the BBC is funded, run and spends its huge licence fee income. Also included in the ‘Green Paper’ consultation document […]
A ‘war of words’ has broken out between Sky and BT, with Sky calling for BT’s ‘Openreach’ service be separated from the rest of the telco. Meanwhile, BT raised the level of rhetoric by claiming that Sky’s position in the UK is now “so dominant” that some sports bodies “wouldn’t even talk to us” over […]
Strong praise for SpaceX, France’s arch-rival rocket launching system, was not expected at a French parliamentary hearing on July 7th. Especially when the praise came in a comment from the head of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) launcher directorate, Gaele Winters. He told the French delegates that SpaceX had been an outstanding success. “Despite the […]
It is now clear that the rumoured Axel Springer ‘merger’ with German broadcaster Pro7-Sat.1 is “credible” in the words of investment bank Exane/BNP-Paribas. A note to investors on July 8th by the bank says that while the tie-up is hypothetical at this stage, they nevertheless take a look at what any such deal might mean. […]
Imagine this: Two out of the only three businesses which can launch your satellites are – in effect – wholly unavailable, and the third is booked up through to 2017. What do you do next? That’s the dilemma facing senior managers at Eutelsat, SES, Iridium, Orbcomm, Viasat, Spacecom/Amos of Israel, SkyPerfect/JSAT of Japan, Inmarsat/Arabsat and […]
The golden halo surrounding SpaceX is a little tarnished this week. It isn’t that the launch company has been without problems but somehow or other the passion – and transparency – of founder Elon Musk and his wish to ‘get things right’ have smoothed over any rough edges SpaceX might have had. But inevitably the […]
Al Jazeera America (AJA) seems to lurch from one crisis to another and is making far too much news itself, with executive staff changes and internal conflict as well as a long-running dispute with former Vice President Al Gore. Al Jazeera America’s latest problem is with pay-TV DTH broadcaster DirecTV. In a June 11th court […]
June 25th saw the major announcement from OneWeb to build and launch by 2019 some 650 satellites in order to improve the planet’s connectivity, including broadband and internet services. News emerged that OneWeb had placed the world’s largest-ever orders for satellite launchers (21 from Arianespace and 39 from Virgin Galactic), and had won support from […]
This Sunday (June 28th) Space Exploration (SpaceX) will try for the third time to land one of its returning rockets onto a floating landing stage. The rocket will have helped boost the delivery to the International Space Station of routine supplies within its Dragon capsule, but the big test then follows when SpaceX attempts to […]
June 16th saw BT Sport announce a major new and non-sport channel, AMC, which in the US is responsible for producing smash-hit successes such as Breaking Bad and Mad Men, and the Breaking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul. AMC was originally designed as American Movie Classics, but the all-movie focus changed with Mad Men’s introduction […]
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