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.
When Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down on Feb 11 few would have thought of the ramifications that would impact broadcasting in and out of Egypt. Within hours Egypt’s state-supported television began congratulating the Egyptian people “for their pure great revolution, led by the best of the Egyptian youth”. The next day MENA […]
Intelsat is backing a revolutionary “satellite servicer”, a craft which is little more than an orbiting fuel tank to bring extra life to fading geostationary satellites. MacDonald, Dettwiler & Assoc (MDA) is prime contractor for the concept. MDA, a Canadian company, is best known for its ‘Canadarm’ robotic device used on the Space Shuttle. MDA’s […]
US pay-radio operator Sirius-XM is looking at international opportunities. Greg Maffei, Liberty Global’s CEO, is confirming what many had suspected for some time, and that Sirius-XM (Liberty controls 40 percent of Sirius-XM) wanted to expand overseas. “One of our goals is to get more international,” he told Credit Suisse’s Global Media & Communications conference. A […]
SES has entered into a “framework understanding” with Sea Launch for possible future launches of SES satellites. SES has to date by and large supported the French Arianespace or Russian Proton launch systems for placing its satellites into orbit. Its one experience with the floating ‘Sea Launch’ platform ended up in total catastrophe when the […]
SES Astra used the giant CeBIT show in Hannover to announce a new broadband product targeting communities across Europe without terrestrial broadband – the so-called ‘white spots’ of the countryside. ASTRA2Connect provides the backbone of this new sub-distribution service which supplies the ‘white spots’ with up to 6 Mbit/s of broadband connectivity but without the […]
Rupert Murdoch celebrates his 80th birthday a week from now on March 11 (he was born on March 11, 1931). It just could be that his birthday will see confirmation that his News Corp is given permission to acquire the 61 per cent of BSkyB it does not already own. The prospects come about because […]
At the end of last year,[bitsontherun DgUlZZw6][bitsontherun DgUlZZw6] US cable giant Cablevision announced its plans to spin off its Rainbow Media Holdings programme-making and channel business. The scheme called for a distribution of new stock to existing shareholders and thus makes the move tax efficient. Rainbow’s channels are highly-regarded and include AMC (home of Mad […]
TV broadcasting in Russia has had a hard time, badly hurt by the advertising recession. One benchmark broadcaster is CTC Media which has had a roller-coaster ride this past two years. That position is changing – and fast. Bankers Morgan Stanley say Russia will enjoy one of the fastest advertising growth rates on the planet. […]
Nilesat did itself no favours by dropping carriage of Arabic news channel Al Jazeera on January 30 at the height of the ‘People’s Revolution’ in Tahrir Square. At the time the blame was placed firmly at the door of Egypt’s powerful information ministry, and its minister Anas Al Fiki. He was speedily sacked, but not […]
The second annual international 3D Creative Arts Awards, organised by the International 3D Society, saw BSkyB win the coveted “best 3D-TV” award, for Sky’s steamy Dance, Dance, Dance show. Dance, Dance, Dance is a specially choreographed show (by Arlene Phillips) comprising six segments filmed in and around London. The six specially commissioned dances feature Bollywood, […]
Data: Streaming subscriptions reach 91% of US internet homes
Canal+ Brand & Communication Department reorganises
Italy: FiberCop, FMC GlobalSat develop terrestrial-satellite solutions
TiVo report: UK app viewing of broadcaster TV surpasses over-the-air
Orange TV suffers major outage across Spain
Google ends Movies Anywhere partnership
Looper Insights launches Sports Visibility Tracker
CODA writes to OpenAI on Sora 2 rights protection
Australia: Local production quota for streamers
Israel advances media controls