Aerospace giant Boeing has won a US District court case against its Russian and Ukrainian partners involved in the Sea Launch floating rocket launch operation. The court ruled on September 28th that Russia’s RSC Energia and Yuzhnoye of the Ukraine had breached their contracts with Boeing by not reimbursing Boeing their share of Sea Launch […]
The crisis facing America’s satellite construction industry seems to be growing ever-more serious. Both Boeing and Lockheed Martin claim to have lost direct orders for new satellites because of their inability to obtain supporting finance from the US Export-Import Bank. The bank has had its operations curtailed by the US government. Now Washington-based Orbital ATK […]
OneWeb is a $3 billion project to circle the Earth with about 700 small satellites and beaming broadband connectivity to underserved communities. It is backed, in part, by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, and telco giant Qualcomm. The problem is that the satellites operate at just 1200 kms in space, and well below their bigger […]
Back in July the Bermuda and Hong Kong-based satellite operator ABS cancelled a satellite order with Boeing citing problems that Boeing had in obtaining financing for the deal from the US Export-Import Bank. The bank’s ability to lend or underwrite projects is currently on hold pending the renewal of its Charter to Operate which expired […]
International Launch Services (ILS) has a new CEO, and his first move is to cut prices for its Proton rocket launches. Appointed just a week ago, Kirk Pysher took over from Phil Slack. Mr Pysher inherits something of a challenge in that the value of Russia’s rouble has tumbled by some 30 percent against the […]
There’s a lot of whooping at Apple product launches. As the analysts and reporters are unlikely culprits (though I do know some journos who are worryingly hard line Apple adherents), we have to assume the uncontained excitement belongs to staffers. I suppose it’s hard to not to drink the Kool-Aid when you’re on the payroll. […]
Just at the moment the ‘big three’ satellite operators (Intelsat, SES and Eutelsat) are suffering depressed share prices amid concerns that delayed launches and commoditised revenues pose a threat to future prospects. “Not so” argues a major, 95-page, report from equity analysts Jefferies, who say that the industry is going through a “quantum leap” in […]
The news that FashionOne has now launched in Europe as well as over North America and South America on SES satellites ups the total number of Ultra-HD channels either on air or shortly to launch over Europe . New York-based Fashion 4K is now transmitting from SES’s 19.2 degrees slot reaching 116 million potential homes – […]
A September 1st report from equity analysts at investment banker Jefferies suggests that pay-TV operator Sky is now “heavily” dependent on its profit growth by activity in Germany and Italy. Indeed, the bank is concerned that despite Sky bringing forward its annual price hike from September to June its revenue growth remained slow. Jefferies takes […]
The waiting is Déjà Vu all over again. We now know that satellite operator SES has reserved five channels for 4K/UHD launches. We know that Sky Deutschland has reserved 4K capacity. We know that SES has signed up a German shopping channel (pearl.tv) for transmission in 4K. We know that a major new general entertainment […]