Advanced Television

Funding

Minute Media raises $40m in funding round

Global publishing platform Minute Media has raised $40 million (€35.4m) in a funding round with new investors Hamilton Lane and Maor Investments. The company’s existing investors include Battery Ventures, Goldman Sachs, ProSieben, Dawn Capital, Qumra Capital, Vintage Investment Partners and Gemini Israel Ventures. This brings Minute Media’s total funding to $120 million to-date. Minute Media has […]

July 4, 2019

Broadpeak raises €10m from Eutelsat

Eutelsat Communications has announced a €10 million investment – circa 20 per cent – in Broadpeak, an industry specialist in video content delivery solutions. Broadpeak is a supplier of CDN (Content Delivery Network) technologies optimising the delivery of video content over terrestrial and satellite networks to provide end-users with best-in-class viewing quality on all their devices. […]

July 3, 2019By Chris Forrester

SpaceX wants another $315m

SpaceX is reportedly seeking around $315 million (€278m) of new funding despite reportedly anticipating making around $3 billion this year from launching rockets. CNBC said it has seen a document specifying the latest funding round for SpaceX. The Elon Musk-backed rockets-to-satellites business has already raised just over $1 billion this year. The latest batch of […]

July 1, 2019By Chris Forrester

MOBITV $50m growth funding

IP-based video delivery solutions specialist MOBITV has closed over $50m (€44.12m) in funding from Oak Investment Partners, Ally Financial, and Cedar Grove Partners. The funding will be used to accelerate the growth of Company’s international footprint, while it continues to strengthen the MOBITV CONNECT platform for pay–TV operators, which represent an estimated $200 billion in […]

July 1, 2019

Italy: €50 subsidy for DVB-T2 compatibility

Italy’s Ministry of Economic Development has established guidelines for the provision of subsidies to buy TV sets and decoders compatible with the DVB-T2 HEVC/MPEG-4 standards. The total budget is €151 million and the pay-out should start from November 2019, after the end of an ongoing public consultation process. The guidelines propose that the €50 contribution […]

June 20, 2019From Branislav Pekic in Rome

Analyst: French broadcasters focusing on original content

French broadcasters are increasing their investment in local original productions to compete with Netflix’s five million subscriber base in the country, according to analyst firm Ampere Analysis. In 2018,  the big five French players – France Télévisions, Canal+, TF1, M6 and Orange – spent €5.4 billion on content, with over 40 per cent of that […]

June 20, 2019

Naspers facing major shareholder exit

South Africa’s Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) is being advised to cut dramatically its shareholding in the nation’s biggest company, Naspers. Naspers has done well for the GEPF, but the fund is now being advised that having most of its Rand 245 billion (€15.1bn) stake in one company means that it is over-exposed. Its holding […]

June 20, 2019By Chris Forrester

SiriusXM to borrow extra $1.5bn

Pay-radio operator SiriusXM had planned to raise $750 million of extra borrowings in the form of Senior Notes due for repayment in 2024. But such was the positive response from potential lenders that it doubled the sum, to $1.5 billion, and priced the borrowings at 4.625 per cent. The company says it intends to use […]

June 19, 2019By Chris Forrester

OneWeb expands London operation

Mega-satellite operator OneWeb is creating 150 new jobs at its London offices. The jobs are based at OneWeb’s Global Operations Centre in White City, a few miles West of central London but near the BBC and other broadcasters. OneWeb is looking to launch its global broadband service by 2021. OneWeb is tapping into some backing […]

June 17, 2019By Chris Forrester

South Africa’s SABC on verge of collapse

South Africa’s public broadcaster SABC is asking the country’s government to provide it with a Rand 3.2 billion (€1.9bn) guarantee to help stop a blackout of broadcasts. The guarantee is needed to permit SABC to secure commercial borrowings. The country’s Sunday Times newspaper reported that SABC is “saddled” with debts to local authorities, signal distributors […]

June 17, 2019By Chris Forrester