The annual Swedish Spelplanen gathering of broadcasters was an impressive success on February 5th, with a heavy focus on Ultra-HD. One speaker was Sky Germany’s Stephan Heimbecher (head of innovation & standards) and delivered a comprehensive update on how Sky is testing and improving its processes and 4K workflows in readiness for Ultra-HD TV. Satellite […]
Some might call the move shrewd, and others might suggest it’s crafty, but the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is asking that its chairman Tom Wheeler rule on whether Dish Network is entitled to claim a $3 billion discount in its final bids last week totalling $13.3 billion in the FCC’s wireless AWS-3 spectrum auction. Any […]
Michel de Rosen, CEO at Eutelsat, but speaking as Chairman of the European Satellite Operators Association (ESOA), has heavily criticised the plan to permit terrestrial cellular operators access to C-band frequencies. de Rosen told delegates to a conference in Abuja, Nigeria on January 28, that the proposed changes to the usage rules would have “a […]
Satellite operators around the world have been seeking protection for their continued exclusive use of C-band frequencies. The threat to the bandwidth comes from broadband suppliers who want to use the frequencies for terrestrial services. The spectrum being fought over is within the 3.4-3.8 GHz range, and in many countries C-band (by satellite) is the […]
Jeremy Darroch will unveil his latest set of numbers for his Sky Europe trio of pay-TV broadcasters on February 4th, and one market analyst admits it could be a “bit of a mess”. The criticism is not about the numbers themselves but for the market to get a handle on a new set of benchmarks. […]
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has created a massive new state corporation, which in the process will mean the end of Roscosmos, RSC Energia, Krunichev State Research, and the old space agency. All the entities will be absorbed into a super-holding company, United Rocket & Space Corp. (URSC), and in a plan that will seek to […]
Dolby Labs’ share price has crashed by as much as 11.4 per cent following the release this week of the company’s Q1 results. The fall was not expected given that the results exceeded most analysts’ forecasts. Actual quarterly revenue rose 1 per cent (y-o-y) but shareholders expected more. The day closed with a fall of […]
The FCC’s fork in the road, or should that be Information Super-highway, on Net Neutrality is fast approaching and the stakes are getting high and tempers frayed. In typical Washington fashion, the sides are drawn up like gunslingers proclaiming the only good outcome is total victory for them – and, by definition, the demise of […]
O3b, the satellite-by-broadband constellation that aims to reach ‘the other 3 billion’ people who have little or no access to Internet services, has added some important Pacific clients. It is now saying that O3b is the largest provider of satellite capacity over the Pacific region. Norfolk Telecom, situated halfway between Australia and New Zealand, and […]
Earlier this week satellite builder Airbus Defence and Space said that it had handed over Astra 2G to its client SES of Luxembourg following its launch on December 27th. But Astra 2G was also destined to initially go to a ‘secret’ location for 3 months in order to “bring into use” some of the satellite’s […]