A couple of months ago, Japanese media conglomerate SoftBank was attempting to engineer a merger between Intelsat and would-be satellite operator OneWeb. Intelsat’s debt-burden stymied that deal. Now SoftBank is reported to be behind a merger between US cellular telco Sprint, and Charlie Ergen’s DTH operation DISH Network. Shares in Sprint jumped 10.3 per cent […]
The re-use of rockets for launching commercial (and government) satellites is now “self-evident” says a report from Northern Sky Research (NSR), and benefitting both the launch company and the satellite industry. NSR says that SpaceX is gaining a 50 per cent cost-reduction on its re-used (“flight proven”) rockets, and as demonstrated in April when satellite […]
Italy’s Ministry of Economic Development has initiated the procedure for allocating the rights of use of frequencies on the Eutelsat satellite located at 9 degrees East. This follows the positive conclusion of the coordination procedure and the notification of the frequencies to the ITU which has made available on 10 channels with national coverage in […]
Freesat, the UK’s subscription-free satellite TV platform, has announced that UKTV’s Dave and Home have launched on the platform effective immediately. Dave is available on channel number 157, with Home on channel number 166. Dave is one of the UK’s most-watched non-PSB channels and hosts a mix of comedy and reality shows, including new and […]
An aging SES satellite, NSS-806, has lost 12 transponders. It is the second major glitch to hit SES in barely a month. In mid-June AMC-9 was completely lost along with its 48 transponders. This latest mishap mainly affects cable distribution in Latin America. NSS-806 operates from 47.5 degrees West. Remarkably, the satellite has been an […]
SpaceX has just raised $351 million (in its Series H fund-raising operation) and this values the rocket business at an impressive $21.2 billion (€18.06bn), a significant 76 per cent increase in value since its previous round of cash-raising, back in 2015 when the business was valued at “just” $12 billion. The details were published by […]
Egypt’s powerful National Media Authority is objecting to a move by the government-owned National Investment Bank (NIB) to take a 40.5 per cent stake in Cairo-based satellite operator Nilesat. The stake is currently ‘owned’ by the country’s public broadcaster, the Egyptian Radio & Television Union (ERTU). In the past, there have been complaints that ERTU […]
Paris-based satellite operator Eutelsat, despite a 2.2 per cent (like for like) fall in revenues for the year (from €1.529 billion last year to €1.477 billion) and a 2.7 per cent fall in EBITDA profitability, turned in a significant €160.5 million improvement in free cashflow (from €247 million to €408 million) in the year to […]
Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES has reported its half-year (to June 30th) financials, saying that revenues were up 9.6 per cent to €1.049 billion, and it had achieved an EBITDA margin of 65.5 per cent (66.4 per cent last year) and operating profit margin of 29.2 per cent (31.3 per cent last year). Its all-important contracted backlog rose […]
Eutelsat Communications and Digiturk beIN Media Group have concluded a multi-year multi-transponder agreement on the Eutelsat 7A satellite, extending a collaboration that began in 2000 with the launch of Turkey’s first pay-TV platform that is today the platform of choice for TV homes in Turkey. Digiturk, Turkey’s largest pay-TV operator, has confirmed it will use […]