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SES-6 already a commercial success

SES-6, a new satellite serving South and North America, as well as Europe, was only launched on June 4th but is already proving a commercial success. SES says it has sold a large slice of the craft’s available capacity to a Brazilian DTH operator, ‘Oi’ as part of a “significant long-term capacity agreement”. The ‘Oi’ […]

June 5, 2013

CNN culls Baghdad bureau

It might be argued that CNN’s Baghdad news bureau was the essential part in the making of the 24-hour news channel. But that was then. Now, CNN has closed the bureau. CNN’s staffers like Peter Arnett became international news celebrities on the back of CNN’s reporting out of Baghdad especially during the 1991 Gulf War […]

June 3, 2013

Home Gateway to the past?

Gatekeeping is a cornerstone of academic media theory – that boom industry of the Noughties. But it is a theory under strain as the idea of a few privileged outlets choosing what content is relayed and in what form, and thereby shaping cultural and political agendas, seems less convincing in the Internet driven, social media […]

May 30, 2013

EBU: U-HDTV coming into focus

Last week an EBU-sponsored meeting took place in London under its umbrella ‘Beyond HD’ programme.  “Combining the professional forces of the EBU and the DVB project helped to draw all major players to the workshop, which was held at Dolby’s London premises to allow a number of companies that are active in DVB and BeyondHD, […]

May 28, 2013

Ergen gets tough with Sprint suitors

Charlie Ergen’s Dish Network might be making steady progress in its bid to acquire cellular giant Sprint, but Dish is not alone in the bidding stakes. China’s SoftBank is also a would-be buyer, and has created a web-page to publicise its offer, which includes creating a special Board structure. A statement from Dish says: “Dish’s […]

May 24, 2013

Belarus bans sat-dishes

Home owners in Belarus can no longer install satellite dishes.  The Belarusian Council of Ministers adopted a resolution on May 16th stating that the rules also apply to residents of apartment buildings who must obtain permission from local executive committees for installing satellite dishes (and air conditioner units) on the facades or roofs of their […]

May 23, 2013

Sony prices 4K ‘to sell’

A few months ago, a 55” or 65” Sony Bravia 4K television would have cost both arms and legs. Now Sony has looked again and they’ll only cost one arm and a leg!  ‘Priced to sell’ might be Sony’s mantra for these Bravia X9 LED beasts, which still come it at €4,500 for the 55” […]

May 20, 2013

F@*k yeah! Don’t screw up

Hey, I know that Tumblr isn’t really aimed at me. And, goodness knows, I don’t want to needlessly relieve myself on someone else’s parade. But! But, like most of you, I have a direct interest in big international companies doing well and being well managed, it’s called my pension. Because of the business we’re all […]

May 20, 2013

“Let the [Sky] games begin”

BSkyB now faces a more aggressive challenge from BT Sport than at least one analyst had anticipated. BT Sport will be made available free to BT’s broadband and ADSL customers, and thus has “laid down the gauntlet to BSkyB, which has been steadily growing market share, primarily in ADSL,” according to Sara Simon, media analyst […]

May 15, 2013

BT Sport creates long-term “erosion” risks at Sky

BSkyB subscribers who are HDTV viewers and paying for a Sky+ set-top box are receiving documents and e-mails telling them that from now on they can watch 3D transmissions and have ‘free’ access to Sky’s Formula 1 coverage as part of their core subscription. The messages are part of BSkyB’s fight back over the threat […]

May 12, 2013