Advanced Television

Inside Satellite

Chris Forrester

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.

Iran wants ITU sat-filings rule

For the best part of 50 years, the International Telecommunications Union has employed a system whereby satellite operators logged their plans to occupy orbital slots with the ITU under a structured and open system of ‘filings’ in a Master Register. If there is more than one filing, then the applicants form an orderly queue under […]

February 2, 2012

VOOM progresses against EchoStar

Some readers might remember VOOM, an all-HDTV broadcasting system that was something of a pioneer in backing high-definition TV.  It launched initially with 21 channels in 2003 on its own satellite (Rainbow-1). VOOM was backed by Charles ‘Chuck’ Dolan, but a split in the Cablevision boardroom and a row between various members of the Dolan […]

February 1, 2012

BSkyB over-delivers, as usual

BSkyB has a cheeky habit of under-promising and over-delivering on its results. It isn’t such a bad habit, but often catches out the analysts. Sky’s half-year numbers, revealed on January 31st, declared 6 per cent revenue growth to £3.4 billion, EBITA growth up 16 per cent and Earnings per Share up 20 per cent. Hard […]

January 31, 2012

Challenges ahead for BSkyB

BSkyB unveils its Q2 numbers on January 31st, and most observers see continued progress for the broadcaster, although with net TV subscriber additions being somewhat less than this same time last year. Investment banker Morgan Stanley forecasts net TV subs growing by 69,000 (140,000 this time last year). This slower growth might also affect HD […]

January 30, 2012

EBU calls for end to sat-jamming

The EBU has called on delegates at the World Radiocommunication Conference at the ITU in Geneva to draft a treaty to tackle the issue of ‘Satellite uplink jamming’ – basically when states block transmissions to prevent messages getting out, or unwelcome signals coming in. Satellite uplink jamming contravenes Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of […]

January 25, 2012

London Olympics: “Biggest media event ever”

Ofcom, the UK media regulator, says that the 2012 London Olympic Games will be the largest media event ever held on the plant. They expect the games to host around 26,000 print and broadcasting journalists and their technical teams. Indeed, Ofcom suggests that handling the demands of 26,000 journalists presents the organisers with a “unique […]

January 24, 2012

Slow subs growth predicted for BSkyB

BSkyB will unveil its mid-year results (to December 31st) on January 31st. Another investment bank analyst has forecast that the pay-TV operator’s subs growth will stumble for its second quarter (to December 31st). Bank of America Merrill Lynch, in a note to clients, says it expects BSkyB to show a net subs growth of 55,000 […]

January 18, 2012

Italy DTT auction is “wrong” says Berlusconi

Mediaset’s vice chairman, Pier Silvio Berlusconi, says Italy’s planned auction of six new digital terrestrial frequencies is “wrong and unfair”. Berlusconi, son of Italy’s former Prime Minister, said similar DTT frequencies in the rest of Europe had been awarded without fees. He told Italian news daily La Stampa: “An auction would not only be wrong […]

January 16, 2012

DirecTV to “outperform” say key Analysts

US pay-TV broadcaster DirecTV was upgraded by investment analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein to an “outperform” rating in a note issued to investors on January 11th. Recently, analysts at Wunderlich reiterated their “buy” rating on shares of DirecTV in a research note to investors on Wednesday, December 14th. They now have a $60.00 price target […]

January 12, 2012

Confusion at Sony?

With the all-important CES show opening in Vegas there will be plenty of eyeballs watching for electronics giant Sony’s latest announcements, and whether non-product news confirms what’s happening at the top of the troubled company. One big question is whether Sony will continue its retreat from the TV manufacturing business. There are question marks over […]

January 9, 2012