What do companies do when they are very powerful in a particular field but that power becomes threatened because technology means the battleground shifts to an area where they are weak? You can’t organically become strong in a new sector quickly enough to avert the danger. You can’t even do with it with lots of […]
Credit Suisse, in a report to clients, suggests that while the English Premier League contracts are still up in the air the market can relax about any prospects of a ‘super-merger’ between BSkyB, Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia. The original thought came from a report from UBS a few days ago. Indeed, the Credit Suisse […]
The London stock exchange has seen a dramatic improvement in the share price of BSkyB over the past few days (up 33p on Jan 14 to £8.71) as speculation mounts that Rupert Murdoch might be planning another method of consolidating 21st Century Fox’s stake into either a ‘Sky Europe’ or perhaps seeing a merger between […]
Asked what are the three most important offerings of any pay-TV company and the response is usually, 1, premium sport, 2, premium sport and 3, premium sport. And the costs of supplying that premium content is the current headache for BSkyB faced with an extremely deep-pocketed challenger in the shape of BT Sport. The cash […]
While there was much debate at CES about new Ultra-HD display products being magnificent, and that prices were steadily falling, there was also debate as to the missing programming and content leaving consumers with a ‘what comes first question: The chicken or the eEgg’? However, one continued strong supporter of Ultra-HD told delegates at a […]
It seems TV in Thailand is even more valuable than cellular licences. The December 25th auction of 24 new digital TV licences raised a staggering $1.55 billion, which was greater than that raised by a 3G telecoms licence in October 2012. The 20 successful bidders paid Thai Baht 50.62 billion, while the 3G licence went […]
On December 19th Advanced-Television reported on a merger scheme between Italy’s Mediaset and its 43 per cent-owned Spanish Mediaset España operation. In particular the plan, if effected, would see merged Mediaset’s Italian ‘Premium’ business which operates via DTT and OTT, and its Spanish Digital + division which operates via satellite, cable and IPTV. Mediaset said […]
SES has won a contract from Italian public broadcaster RAI to carry 4 of its HD channels on an Astra satellite from the SES ‘hot spot’ at 19. 2 degrees East. The deal is somewhat unexpected given that the channels are already available from arch-rival Eutelsat as part of its TivùSat ‘free-to-view platform. SES CCO […]
Two great British institutions have relatively new chiefs at the helm. And these aren’t just corporate suits from central casting but leaders, who, according to them, will redefine the direction of their organisations. At the British Broadcasting Corporation, Lord Tony Hall has returned to repair a corporate reputation battered by many recent events. But he […]
The satellite industry has been concerned over the past year or two by the threat of over-supply of capacity. The African continent is one case in point where satellite bandwidth prices are sluggish indicating a surplus of competition not only from an assortment of satellite providers but by the growing links provided by fibre. A […]