Advanced Television

Amazon

Gates buys into satellite antennas

There are now three major would-be mega-constellation low Earth orbit satellite developers: Elon Musk’s Starlink, Jeff Bezos’ Project Kuiper and the UK/India joint-venture OneWeb (should it emerge from bankruptcy).  The missing link for each of them is a very low-cost phased array antenna to bring satellite broadband to the mass market. Which is perhaps where […]

August 27, 2020

Prime Video announces new dating show & musical drama

At the Edinburgh TV Festival, Georgia Brown, Director of European Originals for Amazon Studios, announced two new Amazon Original shows, including an immersive reality dating show and the musical drama series, Jungle. The eight-part reality dating show, produced by Studio Lambert, will see a cast of unlucky-in-love Brits try to find ‘the one’ by going […]

August 27, 2020By Nik Roseveare

Analysis: Amazon’s Project Kuiper is a $10bn investment

The Jeff Bezos-backed Project Kuiper will see investment topping $10 billion, says Chris Quilty, senior researcher at Florida-based Quilty Analytics, in the firm’s latest Satcom Quarterly Briefing. The end result, for broadband consumers, could be impressive. Quilty is blunt, saying that Amazon’s involvement in the plan to launch 3236 satellites to Low Earth orbit (LEO) […]

August 25, 2020By Chris Forrester

Pact: “Streamers outbid broadcast for new content”

Streaming giants such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video are consistently outbidding British broadcasters for new shows amid a global shortage of content, forcing traditional broadcasters to find new ways to fill schedules in the coming months and years. Although TV audiences rose sharply during lockdown, the near-global production shutdown has created a looming shortage […]

August 24, 2020

Prime Video, Seattle Sounders streaming partnership

Amazon Prime Video is now the sole digital streaming destination for all non-nationally televised Seattle Sounders FC matches throughout the club’s home broadcast territory in the US, marking just the second time Prime Video has reached a streaming agreement with a sports franchise, and the first deal with a professional soccer club. Starting with Sounders […]

August 20, 2020

Tom Hardy to narrate Amazon’s All or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur

Actor, producer and born-and-bred Londoner, Tom Hardy, will narrate the upcoming UK Amazon Original series, All or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur. Hardy, born and raised in Hammersmith, London, will guide viewers through the series which will take sports fans behind the scenes of this illustrious football club during a pivotal season and follow all of the key […]

August 20, 2020

Banks react to Bertelsmann consolidation comments

Thomas Rabe, CEO/chairman of Bertelsmann, has shared his view that there’s a strong case and a need for consolidation amongst streaming platforms. His comments prompted a note to clients from a couple of investment banks. Exane/BNPP asked: “Does this give RTL the impetus to be the European broadcasting champion?” The bank adds: “As a reminder, […]

August 18, 2020

Fire TV adds Text Banner for visually impaired

Amazon has unveiled Text Banner for Fire TV, a new assistive technology designed for customers with a narrow field of vision, including eye conditions like macular degeneration, glaucoma, and retinitis pigmentosa. Text Banner consolidates onscreen text into a compact, written banner that appears in a fixed location on the screen. The entire Fire TV user […]

August 18, 2020

Amazon Prime Video’s Utopia launches Sept 25

Amazon Prime Video has announced that the highly anticipated series Utopia will launch on September 25th. The official trailer has also been launched. The eight-part conspiracy thriller comes from best-selling author and award-winning screenwriter, Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl, Sharp Objects). After years of honing the ambitious project, Flynn delivers an artfully detailed series that urges viewers […]

August 18, 2020

Supernatural’s Ackles joins The Boys season 3

Amazon Prime Video has announced that Jensen Ackles, star of Supernatural, will be joining the cast of the hit series The Boys for Season 3. Ackles will portray Soldier Boy – the original Superhero. After Soldier Boy fought in World War II, he became the first super celebrity, and a mainstay of American culture for decades. Eric […]

August 17, 2020