Charlie Ergen, founder and chairman of Dish Network (and also of sister company Echostar) is a self-confessed poker player, but this past weekend’s deal where AT&T is to buy Dish’s arch-rival DirecTV must leave him somewhat anxious about the cards he is still holding Ergen, for some time, has wanted to merge or sell his […]
Last week’s failure of a $275 million Russian rocket is severely impacting other satellites waiting for launch. London-based Inmarsat was the first satellite operator to admit that its upcoming pair of launches of its Global Xpress craft (Inmarsat-5 fleet) will be delayed. The first Inmarsat-5 satellite (“5-F1”) was successfully launched using Proton in December 2013 […]
Satellite operator SES saw its new president/CEO, Karim Michel Sabbagh make a keynote speech, one of his first opportunities to outline his vision for the company, and the broadcasting industry. Sabbagh was speaking at IDATE’s Digiworld event in Brussels on May 13th. Sabbagh explained that while satellite delivery of ‘one-to-many’ transmissions was a logical, and […]
The need for speed is not always associated with high intelligence; think young men (or, even worse, middle aged men pretending to be young) on motorbikes. On the other hand in motor racing those that can afford the best technology can usually go quickest. The same can be said for service providers. And, as in […]
BSkyB’s debt leverage is sufficiently low and it could triple its current debt levels and not jeopardise its investment grade status, say analysts at CreditSights Ltd. “BSkyB’s leverage at the moment is very low, it’s comfortably within their current ratings limits,” Mary Pollock, an analyst at CreditSights, said in an interview May 13th, and reported […]
Crispin Odey, who heads up Odey Asset Management, and who used to be married to Rupert Murdoch’s eldest daughter, is saying that the suggested purchase price made by Murdoch/21st Century Fox for Sky Deutschland’s assets is simply not enough. The current proposal, where BSkyB acquires Sky Deutschland (55 percent owned by Fox) using the VWAP […]
Satellite operator SES said that the upcoming launch of its giant Astra 2G satellite had slipped somewhat. It had been expected to launch in June. The eyes of the industry have been on the plan because the satellite had been rumoured to be the subject of USA sanctions against Russia following on from the Ukrainian […]
The market praised Sky Deutschland’s results (announced May 7th) which “confounded market worries” according to Berenberg Bank, and were “positive….[and].. confident” according to Morgan Stanley. There was praise for Sky Deutschland’s dramatically lowered churn, helped by the company’s two-year contracts now in place for many subscribers. However, Sarah Simon of Berenberg Bank said the quarterly […]
It seems the UK government wants Britain to have its own spaceport. The idea – had it emerged on April 1st – might have been worth a smile, but the concept of an Easterly-facing major launch facility in the overcrowded British Isles “that is also on the coast” might been seen as a foolish dream […]
Sky Deutschland last week carried a test transmission of a Bundesliga football match in Ultra-HD. The match, between Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen, was carried on an Astra satellite on April 26th, and carried at 50 fps and using the new High Efficiency Video Codec (HEVC) compression algorithm. Six 4K cameras were used and another […]