An April 1st story in South Africa swept the country like wild fire. The untrue story claimed that South Africa was to abandon its planned switchover from analogue to digital TV. Now that the bills for the conversion process are coming in, it is clear that many locals wish the April Fools hoax was in […]
Sky will report its Q3 numbers next Tuesday on April 21st, and the market is expecting 9-month revenues growing by some 4.9 per cent (to £8.44 billion). But the challenges ahead are not to be ignored, suggests a note from investment bankers Jefferies on April 17th. Sky UK has just announced steep price hikes for […]
By any measure the Q1/2015 financial numbers released by OTT operator Netflix this week impressed the market. Each and every metric managed to beat the market’s consensus expectations. Some examples: The market was expecting 4.1 million new subscribers. Netflix delivered 4.9 million. The split was also impressive with International growth (2.6 million) beating the USA’s […]
Larry Gerbrandt offers expert advice to anyone planning an OTT channel launch. Is there anyone who isn’t starting an online video channel for the OTT market? Having just wrapped up a consulting gig assisting a client to develop an economic and programming model for a start-up Over-The-Top online channel, some of the lessons (and battle […]
Investors have grown concerned at the impact Russia’s economic downturn might be having on Eutelsat’s profitability. CEO Michel de Rosen took the opportunity of an in-depth interviews with the French press to say Eutelsat had renegotiated its contracts with Russian broadcasters, but that the new contracts had a ‘reverse’ clause allowing contract values to return […]
French media has never been faster moving, or more interesting, since the heady days of Jean-Marie Messier and his attempt to be ‘master of the world’. April 10th evening saw news break that French investment and industrial group Bollore had picked up another 2.51 per cent of media giant Vivendi, and paying over €800 million […]
Mohamed Youssif, ABS’ COO and President/MD of its MENA operatio,n said the satellite operator continues on what he described as a fast-track growth and expansion trajectory. “We launched the business in 2006 and we now have 7 satellites in the fleet, and have reported around 30 per cent growth y-o-y during that time.” Investment fund […]
The news that Vivendi might be seeking to buy the trio of Sky Europe broadcasters has prompted considerable activity on the London stock market in Sky shares. Sky’s share price rocketed from Tuesday’s closing price of £10.23 to an April 8th morning ‘high’ of £10.63 (and a new 12-month ‘high’) before slipping back after profit […]
New ranges of Smart TVs are going on sale in Europe from brands such as Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba and others. What makes these latest models different is that they have a dedicated ‘Netflix’ button on the remote control, as reported by Advanced-Television last week. More often than not the Netflix option was already available to […]
DirecTV-15, described by its manufacturers as “the most powerful US broadcast satellite” ever built, has left Airbus Defence & Space’s manufacturing facility at Toulouse, France. The giant satellite is ready to be flown to Kourou in French Guiana for launch during May. Ordered back in November 2011 with the (then) EADS Astrium company, and is […]