Advanced Television

DTH/Satellite

AT&T/DirecTV ask Mexico permission to merge

AT&T and DirecTV have formally asked the Mexican telecoms regulator for permission to merge their local assets. DirecTV owns 41 per cent of DBS broadcaster Sky Mexico, while AT&T has corporate telecom services in Mexico. Sky Mexico is majority owned by Televisa. AT&T has already announced it would sell its 8.4 per cent stake in […]

June 20, 2014By Chris Forrester

Survey: Most Americans oppose Comcast/TWC merger

Most consumers in the United States oppose the proposed merger of the country’s biggest cable TV and broadband Internet providers, according to a new survey by the Consumer Reports National Research Center. The $45.2 billion deal, which would combine Comcast with Time Warner Cable, is subject to approval by the Federal Communications Commission. Cable TV […]

June 20, 2014By Colin Mann

Thailand suspends digital TV voucher scheme

Thailand’s ruling National Council for Peace & Order (NCPO) has suspended the digital TV coupon subsidy scheme, designed to enable poorer viewers to buy new set-top boxes for its new digital transmission standard. The NCPO says that the scheme (worth Thai Baht 25 billion) has been suspended, along with other key telecoms investments, while the […]

June 20, 2014By Chris Forrester

Turner and Zee scrap 12-yr partnership in India

For the past dozen years Zee Entertainment has been involved in a very harmonious (74-26) joint-venture with Turner Broadcasting to distribute Turner’s entertainment channels throughout India. That agreement has come to end because India’s regulator (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, TRAI) has ruled against bundling of television channels from multiple broadcasters. Consequently the bright heads […]

June 19, 2014By Chris Forrester

Ariane needs “tough overhaul”

Europe’s Ariane rockets need to be urgently overhauled in order to meet tough competition from the USA’s SpaceX and Russia’s Proton launch systems, says Arianespace boss Stephen Israel, speaking at a CommunicAsia event in Singapore. “We have a newcomer in America with SpaceX. Yes, competition is increasing, but when competition is increasing, we need to […]

June 19, 2014By Chris Forrester

Eutelsat expands in Asia

Eutelsat Communications has unveiled its plans at the CommunicAsia exhibition in Singapore for significantly scaling up its presence in the Asia-Pacific region. The company is embarking on a new triple mission satellite programme that will support sustained demand for capacity for data, fixed and mobile broadband services as well as video. The satellite will also […]

June 19, 2014

Newtec for Thaicom DTH

Newtec announced today that Thaicom PLC, a leading Asian satellite operator, has installed Newtec technology (M6100 Broadcast Satellite Modulators) on the platform of Thaicom-6, enabling its satellite to provide TV Broadcasting services in both C-band and Ku-band to serve customers with the best value and viewing experience. More than 30 Newtec M6100 Broadcast Satellite Modulators […]

June 19, 2014

beIN Sports hit by piracy

Subscribers to beIN Sports, mostly on Eutelsat Hot Bird 13° East satellite, have reported they can no longer access the channel, the only one broadcasting all 64 matches of football World Cup in Brazil. Widespread piracy is understood to have affected subscription cards notably operating on AB’s Bis TV or Canalsat dish platforms. beIN Sports, […]

June 18, 2014From Pascale Paoli-Lebailly in Paris

300 U-HD DTH channels by 2023

Findings from market research and consulting firm NSR’s newly released Global Direct-to-Home (DTH) Markets, 7th Edition suggest that by 2023, nearly 300 Ultra-HD TV channels will be broadcast globally by DTH operators, with Ultra-HD present in every region worldwide within the next decade. This exceptional growth will

June 17, 2014

SES: ‘Consumers are jumping into 4K’

Satellite operator SES’s new CEO, Karim Michel Sabbagh, in a major speech at the CASBAA Satellite Industry Forum in Singapore, said that despite pay-TV DTH being challenged in some markets by IP-based and OTT supply of programming, there remained many reasons to be optimistic (about satellite). “The consumer is jumping into 4K,” he said. “Simulcasting […]

June 17, 2014By Chris Forrester