Imagine this: Two out of the only three businesses which can launch your satellites are – in effect – wholly unavailable, and the third is booked up through to 2017. What do you do next? That’s the dilemma facing senior managers at Eutelsat, SES, Iridium, Orbcomm, Viasat, Spacecom/Amos of Israel, SkyPerfect/JSAT of Japan, Inmarsat/Arabsat and […]
The golden halo surrounding SpaceX is a little tarnished this week. It isn’t that the launch company has been without problems but somehow or other the passion – and transparency – of founder Elon Musk and his wish to ‘get things right’ have smoothed over any rough edges SpaceX might have had. But inevitably the […]
Al Jazeera America (AJA) seems to lurch from one crisis to another and is making far too much news itself, with executive staff changes and internal conflict as well as a long-running dispute with former Vice President Al Gore. Al Jazeera America’s latest problem is with pay-TV DTH broadcaster DirecTV. In a June 11th court […]
June 25th saw the major announcement from OneWeb to build and launch by 2019 some 650 satellites in order to improve the planet’s connectivity, including broadband and internet services. News emerged that OneWeb had placed the world’s largest-ever orders for satellite launchers (21 from Arianespace and 39 from Virgin Galactic), and had won support from […]
This Sunday (June 28th) Space Exploration (SpaceX) will try for the third time to land one of its returning rockets onto a floating landing stage. The rocket will have helped boost the delivery to the International Space Station of routine supplies within its Dragon capsule, but the big test then follows when SpaceX attempts to […]
Some people think that doing nothing, saying nothing, in the face of hard problems or trenchant criticism isn’t much of a choice. But, of course, it is. Keeping quiet, making no move, is as much a proactive choice as the alternatives. Rupert Murdoch has understood this well. Not an introvert, nor afraid of sharing his […]
June 16th saw BT Sport announce a major new and non-sport channel, AMC, which in the US is responsible for producing smash-hit successes such as Breaking Bad and Mad Men, and the Breaking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul. AMC was originally designed as American Movie Classics, but the all-movie focus changed with Mad Men’s introduction […]
It seems the situation as far as India’s ambitious plans for complete digitisation and the mandatory implementation of Conditional Access is massively delayed, and the usual ‘confusion reigns’ at just about every level of the process. Notwithstanding the many earlier missed deadlines, India’s Broadcasting Minister Prakesh Javedeker had set December 2015 as the Phase III […]
In more than 30 years of covering satellite TV I never thought I’d have to write a story asking why Sky UK is second best. But that’s the only conclusion on the day following BT Sport’s commitment to 4K, and Netflix’s commitment to 4K, and the availability of dedicated 4K promo channels from SES Astra […]
Satellite operator SES is not having the best of years, if you just look at their top line revenue prospects. But dig a little deeper, and according to a detailed report from investment bank Berenberg, and investors will find plenty to be enthusiastic about. The period Q4/2014 to the end of 2014 was good for […]