A major report on “Rupert, the Bear” and BSkyB’s expansion into Europe, from Berenberg Bank reads: “BSkyB is going from a relatively simple, cash-generative business with an underleveraged balance sheet, returning cash to shareholders, to a highly-leveraged, complex business that will need to lower leverage before it can consider a return to buybacks. In some […]
Fox has dropped its bid for Time Warner. The surrender was unequivocal; “We’re done, period,” said Chase Carey, Murdoch’s right hand man. Fox was done in by an inclining Time share price and a declining Fox one; a toxic mix for a bid relying on Fox stock as currency. Murdoch, doubtless grudgingly, immediately spent $6 […]
International Launch Services (ILS) could see the troubled Proton rocket system back in use this autumn. ILS is expected to form its own Failure Review Board in September to examine the evidence and assess the results of Russia’s own examination of the probable cause of a catastrophic launch failure which occurred in May. That failure […]
International Launch Services (ILS), which handles the sale to ‘western’ clients of rocket launches by the Russian-built Proton system, is laying off staff. ILS has been badly hurt by a series of embarrassing failures by the Proton rocket, in particular the complete loss of a Russian Express-AM4R satellite in May. A failure review board has […]
Eutelsat admits it is biding its time and patiently waiting for the day when it can control all of Hispasat, and not just the 33.69 per cent it currently owns. Back in July 2013 Spanish infrastructure giant Abertis bought a 16.42 per cent slice of Hispasat from Spain’s National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA) which […]
One valuable measure of success for any satellite operator is the amount of contracted ‘backlog’, that is the value of that future business that the operator has tied up for years down the line. This past 12 months has seen Eutelsat increase that backlog by 19.9 per cent, from €5.37 billion to €6.44 billion. Eutelsat’s […]
In an industry where the usual talk is of ”millions” and even “billions” of dollars it is all too easy to forget that – at least in India – subscribers pay just pennies for their TV service. Yesterday (July 29) Airtel Digital TV said that it had raised its ARPU by 17 Rupees (US 28 […]
London-based specialist satellite operator Avanti Communications has not had the best of weeks. Last week it put out a profits warning saying it would be hit by a £7 million loan arrangement fee. It was bizarre in that house broker Jefferies then drew special attention to the statement, warning investors and shareholders to “give careful […]
Exactly three years ago, Rupert Murdoch was wiping custard pie from his shirt as his now ex-wife struck out at his assailant in the House of Commons Media Committee room. Even before the pie, Murdoch had confessed it was the ‘humblest day’ of his life. The foam wiped away more easily than the inevitable impression […]
Thales Alenia Space has signed a contract with the leading telecom services company in Indonesia, PT. Telekomunikasi Indonesia TbK (Telkom), to build a new telecommunications satellite. Telkom-3S will increase the operator’s C-band capacity from its orbital position at 118° East, and will also offer HDTV channels and remote GSM/Internet services in Ku-band. Thales Alenia Space […]