Advanced Television

DTH/Satellite

Another double success for SpaceX

SpaceX achieved another text-book rocket launch and subsequent landing on the afternoon of October 30th. SpaceX launched Koreasat-5A into its geostationary transfer orbit at 3.34pm Florida time. A few minutes after launch the 1st stage separated from the satellite and its protective faring, re-started its engines and manoeuvred its guidance grid fins to bring itself […]

October 31, 2017By Chris Forrester

TataSky makes offer to Reliance DTH customers

India’s DTH operators are beginning to make some appealing offers to subscribers to Reliance’s DTH customers. Reliance is closing its DTH service on November 18th following on from the ending of its transmissions. TataSky and Dish TV are both pitching offers to Reliance Big TV customers, in essence swapping out Reliance set-top boxes and dishes […]

October 30, 2017By Chris Forrester

SpaceX goes for a record 16th launch

This evening (October 30th) SpaceX will launch KoreaSat 5A, its 16th launch of the year to date, and all executed with flawless precision from the launch pad to the floating barges when the Falcon 9’s 1st stages were due for recovery. The launch window opens at 3.34pm (Florida time) from the Kennedy Space Centre. However, […]

October 30, 2017By Chris Forrester

SSL satellite for Embratel Star One

Maxar Technologies, a communications and information company providing technology solutions to organisations worldwide, has announced that SSL, a business unit of Maxar Technologies, signed a contract to provide a multi-mission communications satellite – Star One D2 – to Embratel Star One. The satellite, will improve access to high quality entertainment and information services for consumers […]

October 30, 2017

Major satellite stocks hammered

The ‘big three’ satellite operators, Intelsat, SES and Eutelsat have all suffered massive falls in their share prices. Intelsat’s tumbled 19.36 per cent in late-afternoon trading on October 26th (by $1.15 to $4.79) and at one point the share price hit $4.44 (€3.82). Eutelsat’s fall from grace was even more dramatic, crashing 14 per cent […]

October 27, 2017By Chris Forrester

SES Q3: Video revenues fall, UHD 24 channels

Satellite operator SES suffered a 5.4 per cent drop in video revenues during its Q3 period (to September 30th), partly because of the failure of AMC-9 but also because of unexpected non-renewals at its recently purchased MX1 division (the former RR Media) which cost it around €7 million. Total TV channels grew 6 per cent […]

October 27, 2017By Chris Forrester

Eutelsat squeezed by 9% revenue fall

Eutelsat has reported a 9.3 per cent fall in Q1 reported revenues to €349 million (although 6.7 per cent when ‘like for like’ numbers were measured) and including a 11.7 per cent tumble in in its ‘Fixed Data’ division compared to Q1/2016. However, these numbers were very much in line with market expectations, and only just […]

October 27, 2017By Chris Forrester

Intelsat’s upside: “Let’s talk C-band”

A 75-minute analyst call from Intelsat CEO Steve Spengler on Octber 26th covered all the operator’s bases, but the questioners kept returning to the vexed topic of Intelsat (and Intel’s) hopes to see some of Intelsat’s C-band frequencies over the US reallocated for 5G usage. The news that this revolutionary concept even exists has helped […]

October 27, 2017

Intelsat Q3 revenues still under pressure

Intelsat’s headline numbers for Q3 are steady when compared with previous quarters. This latest period saw total revenues of $539 million (€456.2m) for the 3 months to September 30th, which is down 1 per cent on the same period last year ($543m) but up modestly on Q2 ($533m). Overall loss for Q3 was $30 million. […]

October 26, 2017By Chris Forrester

Telenor remains under pressure

Telenor’s Canal Digital broadcasting division has posted further falls in revenue for its Q3/2017 period. DTH subscribers fell numerically by 3 per cent to 843,000 (down from 851,000 in Q2, and from 865,000 in Q3/2016). However, DTH ARPU grew by 2 per cent to 405 Norwegian Kroner (€43) per month (static since Q2, but up […]

October 25, 2017By Chris Forrester