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.

Satellite operators in share price collapse

Shareholders in Eutelsat, SES and Viasat are suffering dramatic losses in their share prices. On October 9th the share price of Eutelsat, which has just merged with constellation operator OneWeb, fall more than 6 per cent. The fall continued a downward slide over the past 30 days of 15.7 per cent and to below €5 […]

October 10, 2023

Iran upset over Starlink’s local users

There was a time when satellite dish owners in certain countries would be forced to disguise their dishes because of local bans and prohibitions. Owners in Saudi Arabia used to cover their large C-band dishes with parasols so that observing helicopters could not ‘see’ the equipment. Indeed, some owners in nearby Qatar, where a dish […]

October 9, 2023

Blue Origin to exit Orbital Reef space station

Orbital Reef is – or was designed to be – a privately-funded space station. Blue Origin, the Jeff Bezos-backed rocket business and Sierra Nevada Space are likely to end the corporate partnership they formed to help fund the space station. The concept was for an orbiting ‘business park in space’ and operating in low Earth […]

October 6, 2023

Bank raises SES share price target

The SES share price is in the doldrums. The past few days has seen its shares trading at about €5.60. However, a report from analysts at Berenberg Bank suggests there’s positive news ahead. The bank says that with about $3 billion coming in around 10 days from now, the FCC’s C-band compensation scheme gives SES […]

October 5, 2023

Double blow for Arianespace

Ariane 6, the giant replacement rocket for the European Space Agency (ESA), is already delayed until the end of 2024. Now the ESA says that is medium-lift rocket, Vega-C, is also delayed until Q4/2024. The news means that Europe doesn’t have a working rocket to launch commercial, scientific or military satellites, other than two remaining […]

October 4, 2023

SES to receive FCC’s $3bn by October 16

A report from investment bank BNPP’s Sami Kassab says that October 16th is the likely date when satellite operator SES will receive about $2.99 billion as its share of the FCC’s C-band compensation scheme. SES is also involved in litigation over about $400 million from Intelsat in its claim for a larger percentage of the […]

October 2, 2023

Blue Origin can soon fly again

Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin rocket company can start flying its New Shepard vehicle again once it corrects the Federal Aviation Authority’s list of problems on a rocket flight that failed on September 12th 2022. The FAA stated: “We have closed the Blue Origin New Shepard mishap investigation. The final report cites multiple root causes of […]

September 29, 2023

Starlink’s laser craft update

A SpaceX rocket has successfully placed into orbit another batch of its Starlink satellites, and again equipped with inter-satellite laser links. Starlink says its satellites are able to connect thousands of kilometres apart, beyond the view of ground stations, and maintain pointing accuracy to enable data transfer up to 100 Gbps on each link. The […]

September 28, 2023

Should SpaceX exit Texas with Starship?

SpaceX is struggling to gain environmental permissions to launch its Starship rocket from Boca Chica, South Texas. There are already plans to expand its operations at Cape Canaveral/Kennedy Spacve Center, but a serious suggestion has been made to consider a more radical solution. Journalist Eliana Sheriff – who lives in Texas and is a very […]

September 27, 2023

Terran, Rivada and mutual dependability

Last week Rivada revealed it is using Terran Orbital to build its 600 satellites. SpaceX will then launch the constellation into orbit beginning in 2025. But one problem that’s not entirely solved is Rivada’s financing. While it has made some significant and key pre-payments to Terran, it is not yet clear where the initial cash […]

September 26, 2023