Advanced Television

SES

Satellite, cinema operators boosted by vaccine news

Europe’s two big names in satellite communications saw large uplifts to their share prices thanks to the news about a probable Covid-19 vaccine. Eutelsat rose a significant 9.56 per cent on November 10th (and at one point hit €9.70). SES rose 3.9 per cent to €7.99 (and at one point touched €8.12) per share. The […]

November 11, 2020By Chris Forrester

Intelsat looks to eliminate $10bn of debt

Intelsat is currently working its way through its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganisation. Prior to the declaration of bankruptcy, the company’s debt burden was some $15.2 billion. It was massively weighed down by interest payments on that debt, costing the company more than $200 million per quarter-year. Intelsat says it is looking to mitigate a major […]

November 11, 2020

SES, Gilat confirm modem deal

Israel’s Gilat and satellite operator SES have extended their existing technology relationship with a “multi-million-dollar follow-on order” for high-speed modems. Gilat’s modems will deliver multi Gb/s throughput, targeting high-end services over SES’s O3b and O3b mPOWER MEO satellite constellation. Gilat’s high-throughput modems will support SES in delivering fiber-equivalent services for government and high-end enterprise solutions. […]

November 10, 2020By Chris Forrester

Big satellite operators all trending down

The satellite industry’s big 5 operators (Intelsat, SES, Eutelsat, Telesat and Viasat) have all now reported their quarterly numbers and – in summary – they are not good. Sami Kassab, an analyst at investment bank Exane/BNPP, in a useful summary note to clients says that overall, operating trends for the industry remain challenging with Intelsat […]

November 9, 2020

SES “no comment” on Eutelsat merger

The rumours that some sort of consolidation could take place between SES and Eutelsat refuse to die. At the November 5th results conference, analyst Patrick Wellington from Morgan Stanley almost seemed to appeal to SES CEO Steve Collar to come clean and explain the position. Collar politely declined the invitation to deliver any information – […]

November 6, 2020

SES scraps plans to split

SES has unveiled its Q3 and nine-month numbers, and also announced that it has cancelled plans to divide the company into two: a Video-based business (responsible for 59 per cent of group revenue) and a Networks company. Group revenues for the nine months were €1.41 billion and down 2.9 per cent on 2019’s €1.45 billion. […]

November 5, 2020By Chris Forrester

SES and Gilat tap O3b’s mPOWER

SES has signed Gilat and ST Engineering iDirect as its latest technology partners on its O3b mPower satellites. This means that Gilat and ST Engineering’s ‘next generation’ modems will be developed for use on the satellite operator’s O3b mPower craft. SES says Gilat and ST Engineering iDirect were selected based on their next-generation modem technologies. […]

November 3, 2020By Chris Forrester

ST Engineering iDirect provides ground system for SES O3b mPOWER

ST Engineering iDirect, a global player in satellite communications, has announced that it will provide its high-performance ground infrastructure for O3b mPOWER, SES’s next-generation Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) communications system. Pairing ST Engineering iDirect’s breakthrough ground technology with spacecraft innovations, O3b mPOWER will enable a flexible, low-latency, high-speed, fiber-like experience for industry segments that include […]

November 3, 2020

Intelsat/Telenor lose Canal+ business

With SES taking a larger slice of Canal+ capacity requirements, it is inevitable that there had to be a loser. That satellite operator is the Intelsat/Telenor position at 1-degree West. Canal+ owned-M7 group will consolidate its Eastern European coverage on SES at 23.5 degrees East cutting out Intelsat/Telenor at 1 West. SES is thus gaining […]

October 30, 2020

SES and Canal+ expand partnership

SES has signed what it describes as a “new long-term strategic agreement” with Canal+ which covers extra capacity for France and Africa and includes Ultra-HD bouquets. The agreement is worth €230 million over the life of the contract and comes just ahead of the next SES results announcement on November 5th. “The multi-transponder contract renewal […]

October 29, 2020By Chris Forrester