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.

Arianespace “fully reusable by 2030”

ArianeGroup Chief Executive André-Hubert Roussel has said the Ariane family of rocket launchers would be fully reusable starting by the end of this decade. His comments follow on from French Economics Minister Bruno Le Maire who has been highly critical of the Arianespace’s current use of non-reusable rockets, including the giant Ariane 5 and smaller […]

January 25, 2022

Who will spend the FCC cash?

Between now and the end of 2023, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will pay out almost $10 billion (€8.8bn) in ‘accelerated clearance payments’. The FCC cash rewards the world’s four largest satellite operators for freeing up some of their C-band spectrum over the US. The question now is whether this windfall cash will be spent, […]

January 20, 2022

Would SES/Intelsat merger make sense?

The FT reports that as Intelsat emerges from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reconstruction the satellite operator will lose its CEO Steve Spengler (who will leave with a pay-out of at least $4 million) but could also find itself open to a takeover. SES is mentioned as a potential buyer. The FT quotes analyst Armand Musey, […]

January 19, 2022

Dish and DirecTV: What about the satellites?

At the moment, any merger plan between Dish Network and AT&T’s DirecTV is just behind the scenes talk. But it could happen, and if so, how would the pair start saving cash? The usual synergy promises will trim head-count and the marketing and advertising budgets would be trimmed. But what about those orbital assets? The […]

January 18, 2022

SES responds to Intelsat in FCC dispute

Last week saw Intelsat’s lawyers submit their arguments to the court in advance of the trial scheduled for February 7th. Intelsat gave a number of reasons why they believe the SES claim for 50 per cent of the FCC’s incentive payments for clearing C-Band spectrum should fail. Lawyers for SES, on January 14th, submitted their […]

January 17, 2022

SES vs Intelsat: Down to the details

The long-running dispute between SES and Intelsat over the SES claim for a full 50 per cent share of the FCC’s C-band accelerate incentive payments is now getting to the focal point in their arguments. Intelsat’s lawyers submitted 134 pages of Exhibits that they depend on and potentially used to support their rebuttal of the […]

January 14, 2022

Bank: “EU LEO decision to impact satellite share prices”

Analysts at investment bank BNP/Paribas, in a report on the media sector and satellite activity, suggest that the existing market (notably Europe’s two satellite giants SES and Eutelsat) could be affected by the EU’s decision on plans for a European-financed Low Earth orbiting constellation. The bank says: “In 2022, the EU is likely to make […]

January 13, 2022

Musk changing mind on Starlink launches?

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is altering its plan to send another 30,000 satellites in its Starlink mega-constellation into space using its existing Falcon 9 rocket fleet. A SpaceX lawyer, William Wiltshire, in a letter to the FCC explains that progress on the constellation is moving forward better than expected and that SpaceX plans to start launching […]

January 12, 2022

More satellites from O3b in 2022

SES is just a few weeks away from launching its next – and significantly more powerful – batch of O3b satellites. SES is anticipating the launch of three new satellites in Q1 to join the existing O3b fleet of Medium Earth orbiting (MEO) craft. The second batch of another three will launch in Q2. These […]

January 11, 2022

Bank: “Barco a top pick for 2022”

Investment analysts at Berenberg Bank have placed Barco, the imaging technology business best known for its cinema projectors and ClickShare meeting room technology, as one of its 2022 Top Pick businesses. Barco is trading at half the price it did pre-pandemic, despite a long-term outlook that is more attractive than at that point, suggests the […]

January 7, 2022