Advanced Television

Inside Satellite

Chris Forrester

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.

NewSat wants Optus satellites

Singapore Telecom’s Optus satellites are up for sale. Optus operates throughout Australia where it is the second-largest telco. Singapore Telecom is widely reported to be seeking up to $1.9 billion dollars for the satellite assets which include five satellites in orbit. SingTel paid $9.69 billion for the complete Optus business. Australia’s NewSat is now reported […]

June 12, 2013

Stand by for cash return at RTL

ITV, the UK’s leading commercial network, is riding high, helped by an upbeat report from a leading analyst. The situation might be even better in Luxembourg, home to RTL. RTL is Europe’s largest commercial broadcaster and owns the Number 1 networks in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Hungary and Luxembourg. But the past few years have […]

June 11, 2013

SES-6 already a commercial success

SES-6, a new satellite serving South and North America, as well as Europe, was only launched on June 4th but is already proving a commercial success. SES says it has sold a large slice of the craft’s available capacity to a Brazilian DTH operator, ‘Oi’ as part of a “significant long-term capacity agreement”. The ‘Oi’ […]

June 5, 2013

CNN culls Baghdad bureau

It might be argued that CNN’s Baghdad news bureau was the essential part in the making of the 24-hour news channel. But that was then. Now, CNN has closed the bureau. CNN’s staffers like Peter Arnett became international news celebrities on the back of CNN’s reporting out of Baghdad especially during the 1991 Gulf War […]

June 3, 2013

EBU: U-HDTV coming into focus

Last week an EBU-sponsored meeting took place in London under its umbrella ‘Beyond HD’ programme.  “Combining the professional forces of the EBU and the DVB project helped to draw all major players to the workshop, which was held at Dolby’s London premises to allow a number of companies that are active in DVB and BeyondHD, […]

May 28, 2013

Ergen gets tough with Sprint suitors

Charlie Ergen’s Dish Network might be making steady progress in its bid to acquire cellular giant Sprint, but Dish is not alone in the bidding stakes. China’s SoftBank is also a would-be buyer, and has created a web-page to publicise its offer, which includes creating a special Board structure. A statement from Dish says: “Dish’s […]

May 24, 2013

Belarus bans sat-dishes

Home owners in Belarus can no longer install satellite dishes.  The Belarusian Council of Ministers adopted a resolution on May 16th stating that the rules also apply to residents of apartment buildings who must obtain permission from local executive committees for installing satellite dishes (and air conditioner units) on the facades or roofs of their […]

May 23, 2013

Sony prices 4K ‘to sell’

A few months ago, a 55” or 65” Sony Bravia 4K television would have cost both arms and legs. Now Sony has looked again and they’ll only cost one arm and a leg!  ‘Priced to sell’ might be Sony’s mantra for these Bravia X9 LED beasts, which still come it at €4,500 for the 55” […]

May 20, 2013

“Let the [Sky] games begin”

BSkyB now faces a more aggressive challenge from BT Sport than at least one analyst had anticipated. BT Sport will be made available free to BT’s broadband and ADSL customers, and thus has “laid down the gauntlet to BSkyB, which has been steadily growing market share, primarily in ADSL,” according to Sara Simon, media analyst […]

May 15, 2013

BT Sport creates long-term “erosion” risks at Sky

BSkyB subscribers who are HDTV viewers and paying for a Sky+ set-top box are receiving documents and e-mails telling them that from now on they can watch 3D transmissions and have ‘free’ access to Sky’s Formula 1 coverage as part of their core subscription. The messages are part of BSkyB’s fight back over the threat […]

May 12, 2013