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.

ESA wants initial €750m for EU constellation

The European Space Agency (ESA) will be asking its member governments, including the UK, to fund an extra €750 million for its planned work schedule between 2023-2025. The cash will help pay initial costs for the European Union’s low Earth orbiting (LEO) broadband scheme. Europe wants its own independent LEO communications system. But that sum […]

October 2, 2022

Intelsat Class Action could continue

On September 28th, we reported that a California judge cleared Intelsat’s pre-bankruptcy major shareholders of a Class Action insider trading allegations. Our report was accurate, but Judge Jeffrey White, from the US District Court for the Northern District of California, left a potential sting in the tail of his ruling. The judge said that while […]

September 30, 2022

India fills demand for ‘heavy’ satellite launching

India’s State Research Organisation (ISRO) is looking to fill an anticipated severe demand for launching large satellite, as well as supplying its latest rocket for constellations looking to deliver their fleets into lower orbits. ISRO uses its commercial arm, New Space India Ltd (NSIL), which is the follow-on organisation from the tarnished Antrix Corp, for […]

September 29, 2022

ESA wants initial €100m for LEO test system

The European Space Agency (ESA) is looking for its member states to fund an initial €100 million for a mini-constellation of between 6-12 low Earth orbiting (LEO) test satellites to launch during 2026. The cash will be used to build and launch the new constellation. If the tests work out then the bill will be […]

September 28, 2022

Musk: “1m terminals manufactured”

Elon Musk has revealed on Twitter that SpaceX has now manufactured more than 1 million Starlink user terminals. Starlink has enjoyed a steady rise in its subscriber numbers. In March this year Starlink claimed 250,000 users. By May that had expanded to 400,000. By June this year the business claimed it had 500,000 users. That […]

September 27, 2022

Eagle-1 could start new fleet for SES

SES recently announced it was leading a consortium which was developing Eagle-1, described as a ‘quantum cryptography technology’ demonstration satellite. Launching in 2024 it will test quantum key distribution via satellite, and designed to be super-secure. It could lead to a new fleet of satellites for SES. The agreement between SES, the European Space Agency […]

September 26, 2022

Lightspeed coordinates with Kuiper

Two upcoming major would-be broadband-by-satellite operators Canada’s Telesat Lightspeed and the Jeff Bezos-backed Project Kuiper say they have successfully agreed to coordinate their planned mega-constellations. Amazon’s Kuiper says it had wrapped frequency and orbital coordination for their constellations, and this is undoubtedly good news for Telesat’s Lightspeed and removes an element of doubt over the […]

September 23, 2022

YahSat pays out $53m dividend

Abu Dhabi-based satellite operator Yahsat will pay out an interim dividend of AED 196.6m ($53.5m) by October 14th. Yahsat says its interim cash dividend covers the first half-year’s trading for 2022. The interim dividend will be paid by to all shareholders of record and is equivalent to 8.06 AED fils per share. On an annualised […]

September 22, 2022

Rivada wants ITU to relax BIU milestone

Rivada Space Networks, with offices in the US, Germany and Ireland and licensed by Lichtenstein, is asking the ITU regulator to give it more time to launch its laser-linked satellites into orbit. Currently, Rivada is obliged to launch 10 per cent of its planned 600 low Earth orbiting satellites by September 2023. Shareholder disputes at […]

September 16, 2022

SpaceX hits FCC with $900m appeal

A month ago the FCC ruled that SpaceX’s Starlink broadband service was not entitled to receive some $900 million from its rural broadband subsidy scheme (RDOF). Now SpaceX (and its Starlink Services subsidiary) is appealing that ruling which it claims is “flawed as a matter of law and policy”. The appeal document was filed on […]

September 14, 2022