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.

Bank: “BritBox will not succeed”

A report from equity analysts at Berenberg Bank suggests an unclear future for the ITV/BBC BritBox streaming joint-venture. The bank says that Britbox is a “distraction that will not succeed”. The bank’s report makes blunt reading for the BritBox venture. “BritBox trends look weak: While the near-term picture on advertising looks clearly more positive, the […]

July 23, 2021

SES vs Intelsat nears summary judgement

SES has filed various Motions in front of Intelsat’s bankruptcy court ahead of a planned hearing on the SES application for a summary judgement in its case for a 50/50 split of the FCC’s incentive payments. The FCC payments are in respect of the C-band reallocation over the US. Some of the key elements in […]

July 19, 2021

Bank: Gaming a “smart move” for Netflix

The news that Netflix has made a key appointment to its game development division is good news for the streamer says a report from equity analysts at investment bank Exane/BNPP. Mike Verdu will join Netflix as VP/game development, reporting to COO Greg Peters, the company has confirmed. Verdu was previously Facebook’s VP/in charge of working […]

July 16, 2021

Amazon’s Project Kuiper unveils dish structure

Jeff Bezos is just a few days away from his Blue Origin/New Shephard sub-orbital launch, scheduled for July 20th. But back at its Redmond (Washington state) headquarters, his Project Kuiper broadband-by-satellite team are readying its next steps. Amazon’s Project Kuiper is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission to launch 3236 satellites into low Earth orbit. […]

July 15, 2021

Intelsat bankruptcy exit plan adjourned

Intelsat, currently trading as a Debtor in Possession under Chapter 11 rules, has asked its bankruptcy court to start hearing its Disclosure Statement on August 11th. The original wish was for the hearing to take place on July 27th, but that now looks likely to be postponed until August 11th, given that 28 says notice […]

July 12, 2021

QuinetiQ wins ESA contract

UK-based aerospace business QuinetQ has won a contract to build and operate an European Space Agency (ESA) satellite which will test and de-risk new space technologies. The ESA’s EU Horizon 2020’s IOD/IOV (In-Orbit Demonstration and Validation) programme will provide affordable access to space demonstration and validation for new space technologies and capabilities. It aims to […]

July 9, 2021

Branson and Bezos prepare for lift-off

To describe Sir Richard Branson as a successful entrepreneur is perhaps an understatement, but the world knows that billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos tops that category. However, when it comes to sub-orbital space flight, the pair are almost neck and neck in their ambitions. On July 11th, while insisting there’s absolutely no rivalry with Bezos, […]

July 8, 2021

EU gets tough on rocket plans

Currently the EU, mostly via the European Space Agency (ESA) and other national space bodies, has totally supported the development of Arianespace’s ‘next generation’ Ariane 6 rocket. However, the development of Ariane 6 (A-6) has been delayed and not helped by Covid restrictions. The original concept was also that A-6 would be significantly cheaper to […]

July 7, 2021

OneWeb seeks to halve terminal costs

Sunil Mittal, chairman of Bharti Enterprises and now a major investor in mega-constellation OneWeb, said the satellite operator was in talks with Sasken Technologies, as well as a division of India’s Space Research Organisation (ISRO), in order to reduce the costs of the antenna terminal. OneWeb is building out its satellites and plans to launch […]

July 6, 2021

Intelsat appoints restructuring advisors

Intelsat, currently managing its way as a Debtor in Possession of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring process, has asked its court to confirm its June 23rd appointment of a restructuring advisor. Intelsat requested the bankruptcy court’s permission on July 2nd to retain Portage Point Advisors LLC to render independent financial advisory services at the sole […]

July 5, 2021