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.

Could Musk or T-Mobile buy EchoStar spectrum?

The news that AT&T is paying some $23 billion (€19.8bn) for terrestrial cellular spectrum to EchoStar has alerted many analysts to the implied value of EchoStar’s remaining telephony spectrum. Reports are numerous that both Elon Musk – who has long coveted EchoStar satellite spectrum – and AT&T rival T-Mobile could be next in line for […]

August 28, 2025

AST SpaceMobile insists FM-1 satellite will ship in August

AST SpaceMobile needs to get its second-generation satellites into orbit speedily. The first of these craft, weighing some 6500 kgs, is much-delayed in its promised launch date. Now, AST insists that the satellite is ready to leave its Midland, Texas, fabrication facility and will be shipped this August. Then there’s the question of the rocket […]

August 27, 2025

AST SpaceMobile wraps Chipset development

Notwithstanding reports of a further delay to the launch date for AST SpaceMobile’s latest FM1 satellite, the company says it has completed development of the electronics board with its new AST5000 ASIC chip – the cornerstone of the company’s next-generation BlueBird satellites. “After five years of rigorous engineering and production, representing an equivalent of 150+ […]

August 26, 2025

Further delays for AST’s FM1 satellite

AST SpaceMobile’s FM1 craft is reportedly not going to be launched as speedily as hoped. According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which is responsible for launching the important broadband satellite, it can happen before the end of [India’s] financial year, which is December 31st. There have been numerous reports that ISRO is not […]

August 22, 2025

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 breaks launch record

Elon Musk issued congratulations to his SpaceX rocket and launch team on achieving 100 launches already this year. Musk said the record is impressive given that the launches have lofted about 1,800 tonnes of payload into orbit, and accounting for more than 90 per cent of all Earth mass to orbit. SpaceX has achieved a […]

August 20, 2025

SpaceX Starship targets August 24 launch

SpaceX has said that its Test Flight #10 of its massive Starship is officially targeting August 24th for its launch from its Starbase in South Texas. Weather and other external events may delay the launch. Elon Musk’s space company says that it has removed one of the key landing fins used to guide the Super […]

August 18, 2025

AST SpaceMobile plays Game of Phones

The banking analysts have had time to chew over AST SpaceMobile’s half-year update. The advice given is – at best – mixed. Some analysts have increased their Price Targets while other have reduced or softened their Targets. Recent Analyst Price Target Changes for AST: · B Riley was $44, now $60 · Deutsche Bank was […]

August 14, 2025

Project Kuiper: 100+ broadband satellites orbiting

A much-delayed but ultimately successful launch by SpaceX of 24 Project Kuiper satellites on August 11th takes the total of Amazon craft launched to 102. This was the fourth launch, but there’s a long way to go. This mission (KF-02) saw the satellites separated from the rocket at an altitude of 289 miles (465 kilometers) […]

August 13, 2025

India competes on world stage for launchers

The Indian space programme is expanding and its rocket building and launching capabilities are now matching the best from the rest of the world. In a month or two India’s Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will loft AST SpaceMobile’s heavyweight low Earth orbiting FM1 satellites – and which weighs around 6,500kgs – into orbit. Chairman of […]

August 12, 2025

EchoStar needs to act swiftly on launch plans

Charlie Ergen’s EchoStar has signed a $1.3 billion (€1.1bn) initial contract with Canada-based MDA Space to build 100 or so low Earth orbiting ‘MDA Aurora’ satellites for its proposed global Direct-to-Device scheme, addressing a potential “350 million Americans” and “more than 7 billion additional people globally”. EchoStar says the total cost of its initial constellation […]

August 11, 2025