IHS Research reports that US pay-TV subs are being lost to Netflix users and other OTT providers. This is always an eye catching headline in our sector, and I confidently predict it will rise close to the top of our most-read parade in coming days. However, like a lot of similar reports, it is a […]

The news from Unterföhring, near Munich, home of Sky Deutschland, was much, much better than expected. CEO Brian Sullivan, fresh from his annual holiday, used the clever device of delivering better results than the market forecast, and the old corporate mantra of under-promising and over-delivering has worked well for him and his team. While the […]

The consensus is that Sky Deutschland’s Q2 numbers, out August 14, will be solidly respectable and continue the gains of recent quarters. Investment banker Morgan Stanley reminds us that Q1’s numbers showed gross adds of 155,000 (net about 73,000) for the quarter-year, churn of some 10.8 per cent (annualised) and monthly ARPU of €31.76. For […]

There’s a huge amount of uncertainty over the precise state of the two satellites which failed to launch on Monday when a Russian Proton rocket suffered technical problems. The USA’s Strategic Command says 4 objects are in the same dangerous orbit. These are thought to be the Briz-M booster, a fuel tank, and the two […]

With commercial network broadcasting across Europe in the advertising doldrums (Spain and Italy in a state of near-collapse) it’s good to see a positive report on one broadcaster in the shape of Germany’s Pro7/Sat1 group. Investment banker Morgan Stanley, in a note to clients, suggests that Pro7 had a “strong performance in H1” and that […]

Satellite giant Intelsat says its newly-launched EPIC high-throughput satellites have already taken $500 millions-worth of new business even though the satellites are not yet operational. The deals are fascinating, and include aircraft broadband services from Panasonic as well as valuable contracts from the likes of Harris CapRock and MTN Satellite Comms. The new Intelsat satellites […]

Eutelsat’s full year results were released late on July 30 showing some extremely solid numbers, including confirmation of an extra satellite order for the operator’s increasingly ‘hot’ orbital spot over the Middle East. But conspicuous by its absence was any detailed explanation on Eutelsat’s Ka-Sat and its TooWay ‘broadband by satellite’ service. Eutelsat says its […]

Satellite operator SES’ president and CEO Romain Bausch repeated during a conference call that SES remained interested in acquiring the Greek-Cyprus satellite operator HellasSat, but implied that the Athens company had first to make up its mind to sell the asset. He told one caller that for at least the past year or so SES […]

Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES reported further revenue growth on July 27 (for the six months to June 30) citing successes in winning business from new markets as being partly responsible. Revenues were up 4.8 per cent over the same period last year (to €892 million) and generating an operating profit up 2.4 per cent to […]

This Friday (July 27th) SES will unveil its latest financial numbers, but ahead of those figures, it says that it is now leading its rivals in terms of HDTV deployment, and is carrying more than 1,300 high-def channels. They comprise more than 25 per cent of the 5200 channels carried by the SES fleet. As […]