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.
US pay-radio broadcaster Sirius-XM is in great shape and in formal guidance is predicting a double-digit revenue increase for 2012. CEO Mel Karmazin told a Bank of America conference last week that he’d like to use Sirius’s growing cash pile to help fund a suitable acquisition – but there wasn’t much about! Instead, his Board […]
It wasn’t so very long ago that Iridium, the global/mobile satellite phone and data service, was languishing in Bankruptcy Court. Now, having restructured, it is declaring more than 500,000 subscribers around the world, with some 10 percent made up of US governmental (AKA military) users. “Our consistent double-digit growth in subscribers – more than 25 […]
Satellite operator SES used IBC to unveil its new logo, and told press and conference delegates that it was now carrying 5,905 channels and radio networks and that more than 2400 were being transmitted over Europe. SES is claiming the world’s top spot for HDTV channels, with 1,071 now on air around the globe. (although […]
SES has struck up another of its special relationship agreements. This time it is Russia’s Gazprom and its Gazprom Space Systems division. SES now has a “strategic partnership” with the giant Russian company to provide new satellite capacity to serve the fast-growing Russian market. The deal was announced at the Euroconsult Paris satellite conference. […]
Last week’s Vivendi results were close to the market’s expectations, although there was subsequently some changes to guidance during the post-results analysts’ calls. For example, Vivendi’s Activision-Blizzard games division saw its guidance raised substantially, with the potential of even further progress. Vivendi is a much diversified business, especially in the telecoms sector, and while the […]
On Friday evening (Aug 26) Google boss Eric Schmidt delivered the annual MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival. He confirmed that Google TV would launch in Europe early next year with the UK “among the top priorities”. One cautionary comment came from Stewart Purvis, a former CEO at ITN and now professor of […]
Telesat of Canada launched its Telstar 14R/Estrela do Sol 2 satellite on May 21st. While the launch appeared successful one of the satellite’s solar panels failed to open. The craft, built by Space Systems/Loral has been given a very limited life in orbit, and can only handle about half of its planned channels. The satellite […]
Pace is the world’s largest supplier of set-top box technology, having taken the top spot from rival Motorola a year or so ago. A story in Investors Chronicle also suggests that Pace’s market share could be threatened by the Google purchase. This past week has seen Pace’s FTSE London-listed share price recover somewhat from 92p […]
The BBC’s popular music radio station Radio 1 is again available for Sirius-XM listeners PROVIDED they are close to a computer or streaming service. The station will not be actually available on the Sirius-XM satellite or terrestrial repeater system other than for a few special events through the year. The BBC station rejoins the Sirius-XM […]
US DBS leader DirecTV is spending $100 million a week buying in its own shares. As at June 30 it had $3.4 billion of authorised cash available to buy back its shares, and according to ratings agency Fitch, it expects DirecTV’s capital allocation strategy will continue to focus on its share repurchase programme while managing […]
Research: 20% of US adults get news from TikTok
Spain: RTVE, FORTA launch DVB-I pilot
Research: CTV HomeScreen ads capture attention faster
Paramount appoints Trump regulator
IAB lowers US ad spend projections
Study: US Hispanics watch more genres, co-view more often
Kenya: MultiChoice’s DStv subscribers evaporate
Report: 41% surge in DDoS attack volumes
Starlink readies India launch
Cross-border content access in the digital entertainment era