This weekend sees Paris-based Eutelsat celebrate 30 years in space. Thirty years ago the operator launched Eutelsat 1-F1,  as the first satellite of a system designed to support communications across Europe. It heralded the start of satellite TV by beaming the first television channels to cable networks in continental Europe and to a nascent group of users who demonstrated the potential of Direct-to-Home reception. A new […]

Singapore Telecom’s Optus satellites are up for sale. Optus operates throughout Australia where it is the second-largest telco. Singapore Telecom is widely reported to be seeking up to $1.9 billion dollars for the satellite assets which include five satellites in orbit. SingTel paid $9.69 billion for the complete Optus business. Australia’s NewSat is now reported […]

ITV, the UK’s leading commercial network, is riding high, helped by an upbeat report from a leading analyst. The situation might be even better in Luxembourg, home to RTL. RTL is Europe’s largest commercial broadcaster and owns the Number 1 networks in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Hungary and Luxembourg. But the past few years have […]

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’ […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

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” […]