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.
Arianespace says that a faulty component caused the loss of one of its Italian-made Vega rockets on December 20th 2022. The problem was probably caused by a faulty carbon component – in effect, a nozzle – which Italian aerospace group Avio had purchased from a supplier in Ukraine, Arianespace revealed as it published findings of […]
Satellite builder Maxar Technologies is naturally reluctant to talk publicly about its satellite delivery dates – or any slippage in those delivery obligations. In future such news must come from its clients, says Maxar. One of the affected businesses is its own WorldView Legion imaging six-craft constellation. Maxar had previously talked in November last year […]
Investment bank Berenberg, in a report on Eutelsat, says the Paris-based satellite operator is struggling to persuade investors that its merger with OneWeb makes sense. “The transformative deal, first announced in July 2022 and planned to complete in calendar Q2/Q3 2023, changes Eutelsat’s investment case from a highly cash-generative, dividend-paying value stock to a non-cash-generative, […]
The much-delayed merger between India’s Sony and Zee Entertainment (ZEEL) has not – yet – hit the buffers. Zee’s MD Punit Goenk has said that he expects a timely completion of a merger. However, ZEEL told a tribunal on February 24th that its merger with Sony’s India division will “get stuck” due to the initiation […]
Investment bank Jefferies, which recently opened up detailed coverage of the video games industry, says that from interviews and discussions it has had with investors who generally remain “bullish” on the sector, but view the next 12 months for the sector as challenging. Jefferies says the sentiment overall was one of “let’s talk next year”, […]
The chair of AMC Networks, James Dolan, helped by a couple of family generations involved in the pay-TV business, has bluntly said that the streaming business model is broken. He added that while some M&A could help, such deals are not the answer. Analysts at MoffettNathanson (MN) agree with Dolan and say that change in […]
California-based satellite operator Viasat has suffered a negative report from Quilty Analytics. The analysts point out to clients that Viasat has “dialled back” guidance for 2023, not helped by delays to the launch of the first of its latest trio of sophisticated satellites. Quilty says: “For the second consecutive quarter, shares of Viasat sold off […]
The SES-18 and 19 satellites have left Northrop Grumman’s facility near Dulles airport in Washington DC and are headed to Florida for a launch date with SpaceX. These pair of satellites are the last in the overall six-craft mission for SES to replace orbital assets following on from the freeing up of C-band frequencies for […]
A post-results report from analysts at MoffettNathanson (MN) admitted that 2022 was a “challenging year” for Paramount. MN praised SVoD service Paramount+ and its 56 million subscribers (up 9.9 million), but suggested that investors should be focused on free cash flow (FCF) as the true measure of a business. The problem is that last year’s […]
Pay-TV streamer Viaplay has somewhat earned increased confidence with a set of solid Q4 numbers and a reiteration of its 2023 and longer-term guidance. “But with the trading backdrop still complex and breakeven in the International segment still a year away, there remains much to be seen before the market discounts a sustainable group EBIT […]
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