Kuwait Projects Co (KIPCO) says there will not be an IPO this year for its Middle East pay TV Orbit Showtime Network. Mr Faisal al-Ayyar, Kipco’s CEO and vice-chairman, was quoted in an interview with Kuwaiti daily newspaper al-Watan, saying KIPCO would present the issue to shareholders and seek their approval prior to considering an IPO for the broadcaster.

In July 2009 Kipco merged its Showtime/Gulf-DTH operation with arch-rival Orbit. Both broadcasters had struggled to make meaningful profits against a strong free-to-air local market.

The merged entity, Panther Media Group, has switched its CEO recently and is now embracing HDTV via a new, uprated set-top box designed to beat local piracy.

KIPCO had earlier contemplated an IPO back in 2006.

Other posts by Chris Forrester:

1. India stalls again on satellite licensing
2. Bank raises AST SpaceMobile target
3. AST SpaceMobile reaches $10bn market cap
4. China uses Galactic Energy ship to launch satellites
5. Battle royale for DTC over US
6. Analyst ups AST SpaceMobile guidance
7. Deutsche Bank stays negative on Eutelsat
8. India would-be sat-operators increasingly upset
9. Israel wants its own satellite constellation

Categories: Blogs, Broadcast, Business, DTH/Satellite, Inside Satellite, M&A