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.

Virgin Orbit’s collapse

Satellite launch business Virgin Orbit, backed by Sir Richard Branson, is urgently looking for more cash to stay in business. Virgin Orbit suspended all its activity – and stopped paying staff – ten days ago on March 16th while it sought fresh funding. The market is awaiting confirmation – one way or another – as […]

March 22, 2023

SpaceX: “We can boost launch capacity”

SpaceX, already the world’s busiest supplier of rocket launch capacity, says it can do more and could increase its launch frequency. A series of expert panels at the recent Satellite 2023 event in Washington, DC, talked about anticipated shortages in launch capacity especially in the 2024-2027 time frame. The decision by the Jeff Bezos-backed Project […]

March 21, 2023

Kuiper: More details emerge

The Jeff Bezos/Amazon-backed Project Kuiper broadband-by-satellite scheme has showcased its consumer terminal and added extra detail as to its plans. The Amazon team recently began development of a dedicated satellite production facility in Kirkland, Washington, and expects to begin mass producing satellites by the end of 2023. Project Kuiper expects to launch the first production […]

March 20, 2023

OneWeb gives up on stolen satellites

OneWeb’s CEO Neil Masterson has largely given up in trying to retrieve satellites worth some $50 million in a dispute related to the Ukraine conflict. Russia’s space agency Roscosmos – in essence – confiscated a batch of 36 satellites that had been delivered ahead of a planned launch from Baikonur and as retaliation to the […]

March 17, 2023

SES vs Intelsat: Appeal hearing March 20

The extremely long-running C-band legal action between the world’s two largest satellite operators, SES and Intelsat, is due in court next Monday, March 20th. SES is arguing that it is entitled to a 50 per cent share of the FCC’s compensation payments for the pair’s certain satellite C-band frequencies which the FCC subsequently auctioned off […]

March 16, 2023

Water could power satellite in orbit

Pale Blue Global has developed a water-based propulsion system for satellites. The Japanese business describes its technology as ‘The ultimate green propellant’. The company says it has succeeded in operating the water vapor propulsion system (resistojet) in low Earth orbit. Pale Blue’s propulsion system was installed on ‘EYE’, a small nano-satellite for the Sony-backed STAR […]

March 15, 2023

Greenerwave’s ‘intelligent mirrors’ for satellites

Greenerwave, a deep-tech French start-up specialising in shaping electromagnetic waves, says it is revolutionising satellite communications thanks to a unique solution that boosts the potential of both mega-LEO constellations and geostationary satellites. Greenerwave’s technology, based on intelligent reflectors, maintains a low-latency broadband connection between a moving (LEO) or geostationary satellite and a flat mobile antenna. […]

March 14, 2023

EchoStar’s “significant acquisitions” possible

EchoStar, in its recent results, highlighted its best performance in five quarters, reporting EBITDA that was ~9 per cent above consensus. Revenues were basically flat (but ~3 per cent above consensus), as equipment revenues grew 43 per cent, offset by a 7.6 per cent decline in service revenues (primarily consumer-based at Hughes Network). On March […]

March 10, 2023

Bank: Who will win in AI tech?

Investment bank Jefferies has used its University team to undertake a deep dive into AI and explore the possible winners in the technology sector. Jefferies says that the excitement around AI is justified, and it believes that AI tech has the potential to disrupt large parts of the white-collar workforce in time. However, Jefferies stated […]

March 9, 2023

Analyst: Mega-constellations update

Quilty Analytics has provided a summary update on the various operators who are either planning to launch satellite mega-constellations, or already have. Starlink has confirmed that Japanese budget airline Zipair is to offer its broadband service on its flights. OneWeb has agreed a $50 million capacity deal with Canada’s Galaxy Broadband Communications, one of Canada’s […]

March 7, 2023