Analysts at MoffettNathanson (MN) welcomed the return of Bob Iger as CEO. They were not alone. The market responded well to his rehire, but now MN rightly asks ‘What’s next?’ and recognises the tough tasks ahead for Iger and his team. “Cord-cutting is now running over -6 per cent, the Parks [division] cash engine can […]
SpaceX has unveiled Starshield, a new product and business division aimed at the US military and other government agencies concerned with national security. SpaceX/Starshield taps into Elon Musk’s now well-established mega constellation of low Earth orbiting craft and – helped by the FCC’s permission last week to expand the fleet by an additional 7,500 second […]
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is to build “the largest deployable antenna array” designed by SpaceX to date. SpaceX is advertising for mechanical engineers to help achieve the concept. A LinkedIn comment from Sara Spangelo, SpaceX’s co-lead on the sat-phone scheme, read: “SpaceX is developing a breakthrough new direct to cell satellite network to bring ubiquitous cellular […]
Two major shareholders in the pre-bankruptcy Intelsat, plus the former chairman, are named again by Plaintiffs in a Class Action which alleges they took part in selling off investments in Intelsat helped by inside knowledge. The complaint was originally mounted earlier in 2022, but the judge in the case dismissed the Federal Class Action, nevertheless […]
On December 5th, Netherlands-based media conglomerate Prosus will hold a Capital Markets Day (along with its major backer Naspers) and it has prompted investment bank Exane/BNPP to issue a note to clients which – in summary – says that Prosus is set to emerge from the crises [of the past few years] stronger and is […]
The EU has demanded that Eutelsat and SES curtail their carriage of Russian channels. But the demands, which affect Eutelsat more than SES, are extremely tough to resolve. Almost all broadcasters have taken down RT, the former Russia Today, following on from decisions by the likes of the UK’s media regulator Ofcom. Eutelsat has also […]
Satellite operator Viasat has suffered Covid-based delays to launches of its trio of ViaSat-3 craft with the first of the three, serving the Americas, suffering a modest slippage and not now launching until “early 2023” instead of a “by December 2022” initially planned date. SpaceX will launch the craft. The late launch will impact Viasat’s […]
Thirty-nine members of the European parliament have written to the EU’s top legal officials demanding that Europe’s two giant satellite operators immediately take down Russian-backed channels from their portfolios of broadcasts. Various EU officials have already complained about Eutelsat’s carriage of Russian channels. Eutelsat has said it wants to be politically neutral and in addition […]
Analysts at MoffettNathanson (MN) are – perhaps justifiably – impressed by Disney’s rehiring of its former boss Bob Iger. His new contract might just be for two years, but the appointment significantly improves Disney’s prospects, according to the firm. MN’s report upgrades the Walt Disney Co to ‘Outperform’, and while congratulating the Disney Board of […]
The ITU’s powerful Radio Regulations Board (RRB) has refused Sweden’s Ovzon AB request to extend the timetable for the satellite operator’s ‘bringing into use’ (BIU) obligations for its Ovzon-3 satellite. Ovzon-3 was licensed by Cyprus and, like many other satellite operators, has suffered delays in manufacturing caused by the pandemic, and had asked the ITU’s […]