London-based satellite operator Inmarsat is a global success story, but for the past year or two its share price has benefited from a perceived move towards consolidation by Philip Falcone, the US hedge-fund boss. His company, Harbinger Capital owns just under 30% of Inmarsat, and it had been thought that Falcone’s intentions were to […]
DTH broadcasting is very definitely in vogue for Brazilian subscribers. A slew of appealing data from Brazil’s National Telecoms Agency shows that DTH growth – at cable’s expense – is steadily rising. Penetration for satellite DTH shows penetration now stands at 42.8 per cent of homes. Via Embratel is credited with generating this new enthusiasm, […]
Having helped build up a generation of success and expertise from the existing International Space Station (ISS), the Russians want to go it alone and build the world’s first commercial space station. Russia’s Orbital Technologies and rocket company RSC Energia want to see their project in space by 2015-2016. An American venture, backed by Bigelow […]
Investment bank Morgan Stanley has given a further impressive uplift to its target share price for German Kabel Deutschland. In a note to clients Morgan Stanley increases its price target from E31 to a hefty E36. Yesterday’s actual price was E28, but over the past year it has been as low as E19.89. There’s more […]
The French telecommunications and broadcasting regulator has issued a warning to Paris-based satellite operator Eutelsat over ‘adult’ programming that it is carrying. The Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel (CSA) has already warned Eutelsat twice over ‘slideshow’ unencrypted erotic material. Letters went to Eutelsat on February 3rd and again on March 4 warning that the transmissions must […]
Apple is laying global claim to just about anything that uses the word ‘pod’. Apple’s busy lawyers have drawn up a 873-page legal claim over the word ‘pod’, and has already used its claims to hit a small start-up outfit, Video Labs, which has a projector device which it called a Video Pod, and to […]
Intelsat’s Galaxy 15 communications satellite, dubbed the “zombie satellite,” lost contact with its controllers in April but is stuck “on” and continues to transmit signals as its operators on Earth work to avoid potential interference with other nearby spacecraft. Galaxy 15 passed Anik F2 without harm on Sept 9, which suggests that Intelsat’s engineers have […]
Tom Rogers, CEO at TiVo, says its long-running legal battles with EchoStar and its Dish Network sister company will likely end in February or March 2011. The DVR manufacturer has been locked in a tight legal embrace with EchoStar since 2004 when TiVo accused satellite TV provider EchoStar’s Dish Network system of violating TiVo’s patent […]
Television (and other software) piracy is rampant in Beirut and the surrounding region, with thousands of ‘informal’ cables strung between the cities and towns illegally delivering the very best in pay-TV for just a few dollars a month. Barely a penny goes to the official rights’ holders. That may be changing. A deal was […]
The Times of India summed up its take on the news that an Indian investor would be taking a major stake in the struggling MGM studio. “Mera naam hai Baand, James Baand”, is how Mr Bond’s introduction might work in Hindi. Whether the global entertainment community will be shaken or stirred by these reports […]