Advanced Television

DTH/Satellite

Travel Africa Network HD on Eutelsat’s HOTBIRD

Eutelsat Communications’ HOTBIRD video hotspot has been selected by Travel Africa Network for the broadcast of its first HD African travel channel, with 100 per cent African content dedicated to promoting tourism and hospitality in Africa. The multi-year contract will enable Travel Africa Network to broadcast high-quality content throughout Europe and MENA, covering African gastronomy, […]

May 22, 2020

RTVE strengthens presence in LatAm

Spain’s public broadcaster RTVE is increasing its presence in Latin America – mainly in Costa Rica, Peru and Bolivia – following the signing of several distribution agreements. In Costa Rica, RTVE has reached an agreement with Cablecentro to distribute its international channel TVE Internacional. In Peru, CJG Cable is distributing TVE  Internacional and Canal 24 […]

May 21, 2020From David Del Valle in Madrid

Report: DTH revenues steadily declining

Satellite operators are finding that dual illumination – of standard as well as high-definition – is ending, and that MPEG4 digital compression is increasingly being used which means a reduction in bandwidth. Now there’s a new worry as

May 19, 2020By Chris Forrester

Intelsat “moving forward at full speed”

Samer Halawi, Intelsat Chief Commercial Officer, in a blog bost, says that Intelsat’s day-to-day operations “will not change” despite the company’s Chapter 11 ‘debtor in possession’ bankruptcy. He reminds readers that the satellite operator delivers TV and radio channels to more than 2 billion people. Intelsat carries 6445 channels, as well as operating “the largest […]

May 19, 2020By Chris Forrester

C-Band: Positive news for satellite majors

On May 14th, SpaceX filed a document with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) saying that the rocket launch company does not expect the current Covid-19 crisis will affect its ability to meet the FCC’s accelerated [launch] timeline at SpaceX’s standard fees of $62 million per Falcon 9 launch. This prompted a note to clients from […]

May 18, 2020By Chris Forrester

Intelsat: “We’ll cut debt in half”

Intelsat’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy is likely to take between 6-12 months to process and allow the satellite operator to cut its $17 billion of debt by about half. CCO Samer Halawi, talking to Space News, said that despite the bankruptcy procedure the operator was still able to order next-generation satellites because of the bankruptcy court’s […]

May 18, 2020By Chris Forrester

Research: US pay-TV sheds record 2.1m in Q1

With net losses that were more than in any previous quarter, findings from research and analysis firm Leichtman Research Group (LRG) indicate that pay-TV providers in the US – representing about 95 per cent of the market – lost about 2,065,000 net video subscribers in Q1 2020, compared to a pro forma net loss of […]

May 15, 2020

Eutelsat Q3 ‘finally delivering’

Eutelsat’s Q3 numbers were “in line with expectations [and] a return to quarter-on-quarter growth with ongoing signs of commercial dynamism in emerging markets with a new DTH platform in Sub-Saharan Africa and the extension of a contract in the Balkans,” stated CEO Rodolphe Belmer on May 14th. Belmer also welcomed progress on C-band over the […]

May 15, 2020By Chris Forrester

FCC orders foreign satellite-operators to pay US fees

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ruled that foreign-licensed satellite operators and “space stations” which access the US market must pay regulatory fees to the FCC. The FCC, in the order, says it is having to devote significant resources in processing market access applications of non-US satellites. The ruling gained a favourable reception by the […]

May 15, 2020By Chris Forrester

Forecast: Pay-TV to reach 1.06bn subs

The latest findings from the Global Pay TV Subscriber Forecasts report from analyst firm Digital TV Research predict 35 million additional pay-TV subscribers between 2019 and 2025, taking the global total to 1.06 billion. Based on forecasts for 138 countries, the number of pay-TV subscribers passed 1 billion in 2018. Excluding analogue cable TV, the […]

May 14, 2020