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 May 25th launch success of the Elon Musk-backed SpaceX Falcon rocket has resulted in a very prompt commercial order from Intelsat. Musk is perhaps better known as the co-founder of PayPal and the cash behind the all-electric Tesla car. However, the Falcon rocket system is now being claimed – by Musk – as the […]
Kenya’s Wananchi Group, a pay-TV operator which trades as Zuku, is suing Uganda’s state-backed Luganda channel (which airs as Bukedde TV) alleging that Luganda is not trading fairly. The dispute comes about because Luganda, which broadcasts free to air across Uganda, has signed an “exclusive” contract with MultiChoice Uganda to carry its signals by satellite. […]
In one respect the headline is not new. The fact that Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES will not adopt arch-rival Eutelsat’s adventurous Ka-band strategy has been known for some time. But what is new is the determination that SES president Romain Bausch now re-states the SES message. Addressing investors and analysts this week Bausch stated bluntly […]
Would-be global pay-radio broadcaster Worldspace is finally entering full Chapter-7 bankruptcy. The company, such as it is, has just $9,975 left in its bank account. Worldspace’s main assets (two ailing satellites and a ground spare) were sold to its founder, Noah Samara, following its entry into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2008. Since then a […]
Luxembourg-based SES Astra is preparing to launch Ultra-HDTV channels in “two to three years”. This is much earlier than previously anticipated. The news emerged from an analysts briefing and is to be further explained this coming week when SES holds its Investors Day in London on May 22. Specifically, SES president/CEO Romain Bausch told analysts […]
Malaysia’s Measat satellite operator is suing Intelsat for some $29 million in a Californian court. Measat is alleging breach of contract and collusion over the handling of the launch of a Measat satellite in 2009. The writ’s details, contained in Case Number VC12-03702 (MEASAT Satellite Systems BHD against Intelsat Corp) – concerns damage done to […]
Eutelsat suffered its biggest one-day stock-market price fall since it went public in 2005. The satellite operator issued what was, in effect, a warning as far as future trading is concerned. Despite both its 3 month and 9 month trading being perfectly respectable (as we reported on May 11th) Eutelsat used the occasion to warn […]
As well as posting solid results (revenue up 12 per cent) for its overall pay-TV business, DirecTV’s management stated on an analysts call that its Latin American division is now the broadcaster’s “biggest growth engine” adding more net subscriber growth than the North American parent business. “Our Latin America business has quickly become our biggest […]
EchoStar has reported that three of its satellites suffered “solar array anomalies” during the first quarter of this year. The news, which emerged from an SEC filing, affected its EchoStar 6, 11 and 14 satellites. In addition its EchoStar 1 satellite, launched in December 1995, suffered a communications receiver anomaly. Although nothing is official, most […]
Eutelsat will unveil its Q3 numbers on May 10, and the satellite operator’s revenues are expected to be around €315 million (up about 6.5 per cent on last year). Eutelsat is expected to say that its planned ‘accelerated growth’ for this financial year (to June 30) is working according to plan. However, the market will […]
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