Chris Forrester is one of the most experienced and highly regarded journalists in the field. His insight and analysis, particularly in the satellite and pay-TV arena, is highly prized. He has written for all the major business journals in the sector as well as several national newspapers.
Most European commercial free-to-air TV broadcaster have had a tough time recently, not helped by the loss of essential advertising to rival Internet sites. However, a major report from investment bank Exane/BNPP suggests that Germany’s RTL Group could be the exception, and is “less at risk” because of its strong exposure to local programming. Another […]
South Africa’s pay-TV broadcaster Multichoice, owned by giant conglomerate Naspers, is facing allegations of being linked to local corruption claims between a TV channel, the immensely powerful Gupta family and the country’s former Minister of Communications, Mrs Faith Muthambi. The channel is ANN7, described by most local observers as a highly partisan News broadcaster and […]
Rocket company Arianespace is the pride and joy of Europe’s space agencies, and in particular, the French government, which sees the Ariane rocket as a pinnacle of its engineering prowess. But Arianespace is under severe threat from Elon Musk’s SpaceX, and news that Germany’s DLR Aerospace Centre – a heavyweight contributor to the European Space […]
Sky’s announcement this week that it would be investing in more than 50 new TV series (up from 24) and including a second series of ratings winner Riviera as well as bringing a slew of high-visibility acting talent (Benedict Cumberbatch, Idris Elba, David Morrissey, Kelly Reilly etc) was well received by the viewing public, but […]
November is proving to be a challenging month for London-based satellite giant Inmarsat. On October 20th its share price stood at £6.23. Go back a little to August 21st and a share was worth £7.31. By November 17th that value had plummeted to £4.94 – a 5-year “low”. The collapse was down to a general […]
Intelsat wants to modify how its C-band frequencies are used over the US. It has in mind using bandwidth over metropolitan areas for 5G activity. Intelsat (and Intel) has submitted proposals to the FCC. SES, which also has potentially extremely valuable C-band frequencies over the US (because of its acquisition of the ‘Americom’ fleet of […]
In what must be considered a case of “me too”, the market has treated London-based satellite operator Inmarsat with a marked downgrade following its profit warning. Inmarsat’s share price has crashed over the past ten days from about 600p to 497p on November 15th. Indeed, the Inmarsat results follow on from similar poor results from […]
A new space port built on one of the Scottish Shetland Isles could make an ideal location for launching certain types of satellite, according to a report from the UK Space Agency. The Agency is currently involved in a series of ‘roadshows’ (LaunchUK) and public open evenings to explain the concept. The Agency says new […]
Just over 12 months from now, on November 18th 2018, it will be Mickey Mouse’s 90th birthday. Christine McCarthy, CFO at The Walt Disney Company, speaking during the company’s results conference call last week, told analysts that they had better mark their calendars for the date. “Mickey’s 90th is something that the entire company’s going […]
The November 9th analysts’ results telephone conference with DISH Network’s senior executives seemed more focused on founder Charlie Ergen’s views on the prospects for connectivity. He explained that DISH now had a “second opportunity” to build on the DTH business that started in 1992. Ergen was asked to comment on his thinking and potential strategy […]
Study: Addressable TV delivers 3x web uplift vs linear
Research: Smartphones steering the future of in-car audio
WBD warms to Paramount offer
Eutelsat seeks €1.5bn refinancing
Survey: Sports viewing shifts to multi-format future
Research: Consumers losing hundreds to illegal streaming fraud
Kantar Media rebrands as Fifty5Blue
AudioUK appoints Baughen as CEO
Gracenote metadata to power Samsung content search
Report: Copper switch-off progresses unevenly across Europe