Advanced Television

DTH/Satellite

Israel delays Spacecom sale

Israel’s communications ministry is delaying – and may ban – the sale of Israel’s Spacecom satellite business. Spacecom operates the AMOS fleet of satellites and was in the process of being sold to a Hungarian company 4iG. Local reports in Israel say the communications ministry have declined to sign off the deal due to concerns […]

January 25, 2022By Chris Forrester

EU approves Allianz Intelsat control

Intelsat is in the process of exiting its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reconstruction. It has organised its post-bankruptcy financing and German financial services giant Allianz will be very much in control of Intelsat. The European Commission approved on January 24th the control of Intelsat Holdings SA by Allianz SE and has given the green light to […]

January 25, 2022By Chris Forrester

Montenegro to award capacity on DVB-T2 multiplex

Montenegro’s media regulator has announced a public tender to grant the rights to access the capacity on the country’s first national DVB-T2 multiplex (MUX 1). The Council of the Agency for Electronic Media (SAEM) will award a licence to one free-to-air broadcaster, whether commercial or non-profit. Interested parties can submit their applications by February 24th. […]

January 20, 2022From Branislav Pekic in Rome

Dish and DirecTV: What about the satellites?

At the moment, any merger plan between Dish Network and AT&T’s DirecTV is just behind the scenes talk. But it could happen, and if so, how would the pair start saving cash? The usual synergy promises will trim head-count and the marketing and advertising budgets would be trimmed. But what about those orbital assets? The […]

January 18, 2022

Measat, Azercosmos beam to Africa

Azercosmos is to use its powerful C-band beams that cover most of Africa to provide satellite services. The company is working with Malaysia’s Measat to use the Azerspace-1 craft which operates from 46 degrees East for the service. The pair say that under the agreement with Measat, Azercosmos will provide the continued seamless distribution of […]

January 17, 2022By Chris Forrester

Hispasat takes 100% of Hispamar

Hispasat, the Spanish satellite operator, has acquired 19.04 per cent of the shareholding of its Brazilian subsidiary Hispamar Satélites from Telemar, after obtaining the necessary permits and authorisations from the Brazilian government. Consequently, Hispasat will hold 100 per cent of its subsidiary’s share capital. At present the Hispamar fleet is made up of the Amazonas […]

January 14, 2022

ViacomCBS, CommScope IP content distribution migration

Comms technology specialist CommScope and media & entertainment group ViacomCBS have confirmed that ViacomCBS launched FAVE and migrated its DABL and select SHOWTIME linear channels from satellite to Content Delivery Network (CDN) IP distribution using the CommScope DigiCipher Streaming system. The migration represents the first ViacomCBS services to be fully transitioned from satellite to CDN […]

January 13, 2022

DISH, DirecTV renew merger talks

AT&T’s DirecTV and Charlie Ergen’s DISH Network have reportedly resumed talks regarding merging their DTH operations – and a deal could be close. The New York Post says it has learned that discussions are again taking place despite past anti-trust concerns that such discussions would never pass muster with the competition authorities. The Post says […]

January 12, 2022By Chris Forrester

M7, Barrandov satellite distribution deal

Luxembourg-based M7 Group, owned by Canal+, has concluded a long-term agreement with Czech broadcaster TV Barrandov for the ASTRA 23.5 satellite distribution of TV Barrandov, Kino Barrandov and Barrandov Krimi. The TV Barrandov channels will broadcast as of today via the M7 platform at ASTRA 23.5 East with dedicated EPG positions in the line-up of […]

December 22, 2021

Channel 5 joins Digital UK

UK commercial public service broadcaster Channel 5 is to join Digital UK Ltd, the joint venture which facilitates the provision of Freeview and Freesat, alongside BBC, ITV and Channel 4. The four public service broadcasters have entered into a new Digital UK members’ agreement, marking the first time that the venture has been wholly owned […]

December 20, 2021By Colin Mann