Moody’s Investors Services has downgraded Eutelsat’s credit and debt rating, and cautions that further downgrades could be applicable once Eutelsat completes its merger with OneWeb. The June 15th downgrade is to Ba1 from Bss3, and covers the ratings on Eutelsat’s senior unsecured debt instrument ratings issued by Eutelsat SA, including the €800 million and €600 […]
The news that Steve Collar, SES’s CEO, is stepping down sent the satellite operator’s shares into near-meltdown. Over the past 5 days the SES share-price has fallen 14.70 percent, including a further 1.55 per cent on June 13th to an ‘all-time low’ of just €4.70. Confidence in SES seems to have evaporated. A report from […]
The Covid pandemic was a once in a lifetime stress test for many sectors. No customers on the streets represents the darkest of times for hospitality, retail and live entertainment. For streamers, though, ‘Happy Days’. Time on everyone’s hands and nothing else to spend their money on. The bump to their subscriber numbers and revenues […]
Rivada Space Networks is planning an initial 300 craft fleet of low Earth orbiting satellites. It is facing a demanding series of key dates get the constellation into space. Now, however, it is facing a tough demand from a US court ruling. A New York judge has ordered Irish entrepreneur and the firm’s major backer […]
The normal transition for any departing CEO at a major quoted company is well established. Weeks – and sometimes months – of advanced notice are given to shareholders and the market of an impending change in leadership. That has not happened in the case of Steve Collar, the suddenly outgoing CEO at SES. Collar will […]
RIP Silvio Berlusiconi, another of the titans who dominated media in the eighties, nineties and beyond. At a MIPCOM press conference in 1984 or 85, (the Com and some random satellite dishes had just been added by the wily MIP founder Bernard Chevry), the panel was Ted Turner, Robert Maxwell and Silvio Berlusconi. I remember […]
Charlie Ergen, the founder and billionaire owner of US pay-TV broadcaster Dish Network, has talked for a couple of years about the “inevitability” of merging with arch-rival DirecTV. Both are losing subscribers at a worrying rate, and common sense suggests that a merger is the only route to saving cash, exploiting synergies and reducing the […]
Boeing’s aerospace division is being sued for alleged theft of IP concerning the counterfeiting of highly specialised tools used on NASA projects. The action comes from Colorado-based Wilson Aerospace which is suing Boeing over what Wilson alleges is its ‘Fluid Fitting Torque Device-3’ developed by Wilson, and which Boeing used to attach four main engines […]
Analysts at Quilty Space say they estimate the satellite direct-to-device (DTD) market holds the promise of burgeoning into a multibillion-dollar industry. “It comes as no surprise that in the race to equip unmodified smartphones with satellite connectivity, various players are jockeying for position. Who crosses the finish line first, or even who stays in the […]
California-based Rocket Lab made headlines a week ago when it bought some key assets from bankrupt Virgin Orbit. Rocket Lab has been awarded Virgin’s 144,000-square-foot Long Beach, California–based manufacturing facility for $16.1 million. That news, plus a fresh launch contract, has given the business a significant lift in its implied value. Analysts from investment bank […]