Findings from broadband, media and entertainment industries research and analysis specialist Leichtman Research Group (LRG) indicate that the largest pay-TV providers in the US — representing about 95 per cent of the market — lost about 410,000 net video subscribers in 1Q 2017, compared to a gain of about 10,000 subscribers in 1Q 2016. The […]

Japanese media giant SoftBank has helped Intelsat sweeten its proposed debt-swap by a small amount in its drive to merge with Jersey-based OneWeb. SoftBank will put in a minuscule extra $61.6 million, which might sound a lot, but doesn’t add up to much when the total pitched by SoftBank now on the table is $1.79 […]

A Soyuz rocket, part of the Arianespace fleet, successfully launched SES-15 from French Guiana on time (at 07.42 EDT) May 18th and from where it will start its slow but steady journey to its orbital slot. The ‘slow but steady’ explanation does not apply to the actual launch which was flawless and saw the spacecraft […]

Airbus Safran Launchers, the joint-venture created at the initiative of aerospace giants Airbus and Safran groups in order to reorganise the European rocket launch sector, is now to be known as ArianeGroup. The change in corporate name will be effective as of July 1st. The name ArianeGroup is accompanied by a new logo and a […]

SES-15, a new satellite owned by SES of Luxembourg, is scheduled to launch from French Guiana on a Russian-built Soyuz rocket today (May 18th). Lift-off is timed for exactly 1154:43 GMT (7:54:53 a.m. EDT; 8:54:53 a.m. French Guiana time) Thursday, weather permitting. SES-15 is headed to operate from 129 degrees West although because it is […]

Technicians at Thales Alenia Space in Cannes, France, have now sent into space 79 metal parts inside satellites for the likes of Telkom 3S and the recent launch of Koreasat-7. The parts have been made by the ‘additive manufacturing’ 3D-based printing technique. Additionally, Thales has made some 350 polymer tube supports used in satellites. They […]

Intelsat has granted its bondholders another few days to accept the terms on offer from Japan’s SoftBank. The 5pm (New York-time May 15th) set as the deadline has been extended to 4.59pm May 18th. Intelsat told the market early on May 16th that of the various bond issues, just 0.82 per cent of one batch, […]

Billionaire entrepreneur Jeff Bezos is developing the Blue Origin rocket system to send satellites into orbit (and potentially humans looking for space tourism) but on May 14th it suffered a set-back when one of its BE-4 engines failed during a routine ground-based test firing. The Blue Origin team sent out a Tweet that the rocket […]

SpaceX launched what is claimed as its heaviest-ever satellite on May 15th when a Falcon 9 rocket lofted an Inmarsat craft into orbit. London-based Inmarsat-5 F4 (5th generation, flight 4) is one of the company’s Global Xpress constellation and is the fourth craft in this fleet. This launch took the satellite into a geostationary transfer […]