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.

Will Starlink beat AST for direct-to-cellular?

AST SpaceMobile has enjoyed a spectacular rise in its share price over the past few days as enthusiasm for its target satellite–to–cellular service despite only having one test satellite in orbit. However, and despite much criticism, SpaceX’s Starlink might well steal AST’s thunder with its own satellite–based connectivity for smartphones. Starlink is basing a portion […]

August 20, 2024

Lockheed Martin’s major concerns over Rivada

Struggling satellite manufacturer Terran Orbital is being bought – some say rescued – by aerospace giant Lockheed Martin (L-M) in a deal worth around $450 million. L-M is paying $0.25 per share for Terran and will pay off Terran’s debts. The end result will be a new company that is 100 percent owned by L-M. […]

August 19, 2024

Intelsat fined for “unauthorised satellite operation”

The FCC has fined Intelsat $160,000 (€145k) for the satellite operator’s “unauthorised operation of its Galaxy 35 satellite.” Intelsat admitted to violating the FCC’s rules, and agreed to implement a compliance plan, and will pay a $160,000 civil penalty. The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau, in its statement, said that Intelsat in April 2022 “requested authority to […]

August 15, 2024

Bank: EchoStar “underweight”

US satellite operator EchoStar has not had the best of weeks. August 12th saw the company report revenue had fallen by 9.3 per cent and a net loss of $205.6 million (from a profit during the same period last year of $212.7 million). Its share price, already depressed, fell back by 6.1 per cent to […]

August 14, 2024

IRIS2 in BEFO

Europe’s plan for a highly-secure orbital constellation, called IRIS2 (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite) is widely accepted to be in trouble. Two key members of the winning consortium (Airbus Space & Defence and Thales Alenia Space) have already stepped down. The remaining members of the SpaceRISE consortium, formed specifically to bid for […]

August 13, 2024

China builds orbital Starlink rival

A Chinese state-owned enterprise has launched the first batch of satellites for a mega-constellation designed to rival US company Space X’s Starlink’s near-global internet network. The launch, led by Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST), took place at Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre, one of China’s main satellite and missile launch centres, located in the northern province […]

August 7, 2024

AST SpaceMobile gets (partial) FCC approval

Would-be satellite constellation operator AST SpaceMobile received FCC approval on August 2nd (after the market had closed) to operate its V-band frequencies from its planned five ‘Block 1’ BlueBird craft. The five satellites are due to arrive at SpaceX’s Florida launch site imminently in readiness for a September launch. AST is planning a full internet […]

August 5, 2024

SES hammered by investors

SES declared its H1 2024 results on August 1st. At first, the banks’ responses seemed content. For example, Sami Kassab, an analyst at BNP/Paribas talked about “in line” revenue growth (-4 per cent), although admitted that SES Video division did a bit worse. But as the day unfolded, it was clear that the market was […]

August 2, 2024

Excitement mounts over AST SpaceMobile launch

Many shareholders of AST SpaceMobile stock are beside themselves with anticipation of a spectacular rise in their holdings. Of course, there is the small challenge of launching the key five satellites that make up the very first portion of what will be a mega-constellation of approaching 90 satellites. The mission is to send and receive […]

July 31, 2024

Falcon is baaaaaaaack!

“Falcon is baaaaaaaack!!!!!!” was the post from SpaceX’s president and COO Gwynne Shotwell following the triple launch weekend of three Falcon 9 rockets, and achieved just two weeks after a partial failure of a Falcon’s upper stage on July 11th. The weekend (July 27th/28th) certainly saw SpaceX regain its stride, and started to make up […]

July 29, 2024