Going dark is an extreme, but not very unusual, tactic when MSOs are negotiating package carriage deals with content companies. So far, so what? as Charter – America’s #2 cable operator – dims the lights on Disney’s channels as contract talks drag. What is different, is that Charter hasn’t shied away from (quite the opposite) […]
Tim Farrar of TMA Associates, a commentator on the satellite industry, has raised concerns about the “optical crosslinks” or laser beams that operate between satellites. Optical crosslinks between satellites can drastically increase the constellation’s capability to transmit data to ground stations with reduced latency and increased total throughput. Satellites no longer have to wait to […]
It is not yet confirmed but the potential loss of a new satellite for Viasat of California could pose a major problem for the company. But some experts suggest the loss might prove to be a blessing in disguise. The satellite in question is Inmarsat I6-F2 craft, but the probable loss comes hard on the […]
Barbie and Oppenheimer – Barbenheimer – (not a portmanteau any of their creators were expecting), have had big opening weekends. Indeed, Barbie is in the all-time top ten and is #1 in the ‘by a female director’ league. Both are ‘original’ dramas in the sense that matters most. They are not original stories – Barbie […]
Washington DC-based Omnispace, which wants to operate a global 5G satellite-to-cell phone service, has written to the FCC complaining that a rival system from T-Mobile and Starlink will “constantly” interfere with its own plans. SpaceX is currently looking to combine its Starlink low Earth orbiting satellites with T-Mobile’s terrestrial wireless network and expanding space-terrestrial services […]
An August 22nd launch by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket marked the 100th launch of Starlink satellites. The launch also broke many other records. The Vandenberg Space Force Station launch completed SpaceX’s 218th landing of one of the Falcon 9 boosters and the 114th consecutive landing. However, perhaps the most impressive achievement is that the […]
Dolby Labs has been added to the S&P Dow Jones MidCap 400 index. This – in effect – reward prompted an immediate 10.92 per cent rise in its share price on August 18th (to $84.81 per share) and means that Dolby’s stock has risen 20 per cent this year to date. The inclusion in the […]
Investment bank Jefferies has updated its forecasts for streaming service Viaplay, and they do not make the best of reading. The bank has now stripped out those international markets no longer part of Viaplay’s strategy. The bank’s numbers also reflect current guidance from Viaplay. “Our FY23-25E revenue forecasts decrease by -c.8.5% on average,” says Jefferies. […]
Terran Orbital is building an initial 300 satellite (288 craft plus 12 spares) mega-constellation for Rivada Space. However, Rivada is on an extremely tight launch schedule in order to comply with International Telecommunications Union (ITU) obligations. Terran has outlined its delivery plans for the next few years as far as the first batch of satellites […]
SpaceX wants to start supplying connectivity for a ‘direct-to-handset’ cellular service. The trouble is that Globalstar is already licensed by the FCC for its iPhone service for Apple and its permission is near-exclusive. The SpaceX applications to the FCC started back in September last year and asked for a modification to its existing operating licence […]