Chris Forrester is one of the most experienced and highly regarded journalists in the field. His insight and analysis, particularly in the satellite and pay-TV arena, is highly prized. He has written for all the major business journals in the sector as well as several national newspapers.
Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic ‘spaceship’ VSS Unity achieved a speed of Mach 3 after being released from the mothership, VMS Eve, and reached space at an altitude of 55.45 miles (89 kms) before gliding smoothly to a runway landing at Spaceport America in New Mexico back on May 22nd. The Unity craft carried a […]
The risk of satellites bumping into each other is already very real. Now China is joining the low Earth orbit ‘space race’ and planning to launch around 20,000 new craft into orbit. Add this 20,000 to the near-40,000 planned by Elon Musk, another 3300 from Jeff Bezos, around 800 from the UK-backed OneWeb plus dozens […]
Intelsat and SES, the two largest operators of C-band frequencies over the US, have completed Phase 1 of their clearance of spectrum by the important June 1st deadline. It means that the two, plus Eutelsat and Telesat of Canada, can qualify for the FCC’s initial end-of-year pay-out of some $2 billion in so-called incentive payments. […]
Imagine this a year or two from now: Elon Musk has 20,000-30,000 of his Starlink satellites in orbit. And the Chinese have launched the bulk of their 13,000 Guowang LEOs. Canada’s Telesat has 300 in orbit, while OneWeb has placed its initial 650 craft and is beginning to launch second-generation satellites. Meanwhile, an as yet […]
A slew of objectors is grumbling to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system. We have reported on Viasat’s complaints, but SES, Hughes Network and others are also arguing for the FCC to either suspend or modify its April 27th permission for SpaceX/Starlink to alter their orbital plans. Some of the […]
Canada’s Innovation, Science & Economic Development (ISED) ministry has set out its proposals on how it will auction off satellite C-band frequencies in an 87-page document. Telesat, the current user of most of the C-band spectrum, had hoped to auction the spectrum itself in order to part-fund its expensive ‘Lightspeed’ Low Earth orbiting fleet of […]
Spacecom (under its official Space Communication Ltd name) as well as the State of Israel are objecting to any rejection of the Spacecom/Intelsat frequency coordination agreements between the parties. Intelsat is now in the second year of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reconstruction. Spacecom, in a filing to Intelsat’s bankruptcy court, says Intelsat and Spacecom entered […]
The ramifications from Eutelsat’s 24 per cent participation in OneWeb, and whether that stake will forbid the satellite operator from participating in a future EU-backed Low Earth orbiting broadband system, continue. May 25th saw further anxieties emerge over Eutelsat’s role as investors absorbed the possible impact of the EU’s news. One report says that Eutelsat’s […]
Analysts at investment bank Berenberg have issued ‘BUY’ advice on Nordic Entertainment Group (NENT) on the back of its news that its Viaplay platform will launch early in 2022 in the Netherlands. “We are optimistic regarding the prospects for Viaplay in the Netherlands, particularly as NENT has already secured two key sports rights, most notably […]
The Antrix/Devas legal actions will just not go away. The Indian government is now being sued by Deutsche Telekom (DT) for $135 million ($101 million plus interest) for its part in the ISRO/Antrix/Devas S-band litigation. In May 2020 an internationally recognised Permanent Court of Arbitration in Geneva awarded DT a substantial compensation award for its […]
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