EchoStar’s Dish pay-TV subsidiary has made its contracted interest payments, worth $114 million, to its lenders, and thus has avoided a potential default. The payments were due on July 1st and believed to have been made on July 30th and just within the 30-day limit. EchoStar will issue its quarterly results tomorrow (Friday, August 1st) […]

The FCC has approved Skydance’s $8 billion (€6.8bn) acquisition of Paramount Global and its subsidiaries, including the ultimate parent company of the CBS network of owned and operated broadcast television stations, by granting a series of applications that transfer FCC licences and authorisations. Chairman Carr said: “Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media […]

SES has confirmed that it has received all the necessary legal and commercial permits to needed to complete its acquisition of Intelsat. SES says it plans to close the $3.1 billion (€2.65bn) transaction on or around July 17th. The two companies are holding meetings this week to finalise the financial transaction. The consolidation exercise will […]

July 11th saw the clearest indication that the long wait for SES to receive its permissions to acquire rival Intelsat is coming to an end, with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) giving its approval to the transfer “of the control of licenses from Intelsat to SES”. This, in effect, ends the FCC’s oversight of the […]

Would-be global satellite broadband operator AST SpaceMobile has made a satellite modification request to the FCC regarding its operational fleet of satellites. The modification was submitted a month ago by its AST & Science subsidiary and proposes two new 14-satellite shells (98.13° inclination @ 685 km) alongside its already approved 520 km & 690 km […]

The acquisition of Intelsat by SES has been cleared by Federal law enforcement officials. However, this clearance does not yet apply to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The clearance comes from Team Telecom – which comprises officials from the Departments of Defence, Justice and Homeland Security, plus other US agencies. The decision comes with some […]

AST SpaceMobile’s first launch (FM1) of its second-generation Bluebird broadband satellites has been delayed. July 1st saw AST write to the FCC asking for permission to ship the satellite from its Texas HQ to the Indian launch site and for the FCC to grant an “experimental authority to launch and test” the satellite. AST is […]

MultiChoice, the African pay-TV operator, is again under pressure in Nigeria. Nigeria’s Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) is set to arraign MultiChoice Nigeria Limited, along with its Chief Executive Officer, John Ugbe, and other company executives, for obstructing its investigation and failing to adhere to lawful summons. Local news reports says that this […]

Charlie Ergen’s EchoStar share price rocketed 43 per cent on June 13th on news that Donald Trump has intervened with FCC chair Brendan Carr over the dispute between the FCC and EchoStar. June 16th saw EchoStar’s share price (Nasdaq:SATS) finish the day at $25.11 (€21.72). A week ago they were $15.99. In a nutshell, the […]

Earlier in May the FCC launched a review into EchoStar’s compliance with certain 5G wireless coverage obligations (as part of their efforts to build the fourth national wireless network in the US) and raising questions about the buildout extensions granted in September 2024 and EchoStar’s utilisation of 2GHz mobile-satellite service (MSS) spectrum. EchoStar has filed […]