Advanced Television

Inside Satellite

Chris Forrester

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.

Intelsat C-band ‘insider trading’ case dismissed

A long-running Class Action against certain Intelsat directors and their investment firms and its then chairman (Dave McGlade) alleging inside trading has been dismissed by a US Appeals Court. The Class Action, led by a hedge fund Walleye Opportunities Master Fund, and others, had “failed to adequately show that the insiders learned adverse news about […]

July 26, 2024

UK Space Agency funds de-orbit scheme for OneWeb

Japan’s Astroscale’s UK subsidiary has received around $15 million (€17.8m) from the UK Space Agency and the European Space Agency to de-orbit a dead OneWeb satellite. The funding goes into ELSA-M, or End of Life Services mission, and is scheduled for 2026. The new cash comes on top of an €18 million grant which covered […]

July 24, 2024

AST SpaceMobile to launch satellites in August

A formal notice from AST SpaceMobile says that it is still targeting an August launch of a batch of its massive ‘Block 1’ BlueBird 5G satellites. News also emerged that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has requested the ITU in Geneva, which regulates satellite frequencies globally, to recognise AST’s satellites (under its USASAT-NGSO-20 filing). The […]

July 22, 2024

SpaceRISE silent on reports of demise

SpaceRISE is the name of the consortium that’s supposed to part-fund the European Union’s planned low Earth orbiting mega-constellation, called IRIS2 (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite). There are widespread reports that the project is on its last legs. There are normally reliable sources saying that Airbus Space and Thales Alenia Space, two […]

July 19, 2024

Project Kuiper seeks India licence

Amazon’s Project Kuiper broadband-by-satellite system is said to expect to receive a licence to operate over India shortly. India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is currently evaluating the application documents submitted by the Amazon-owned company. Kuiper, once licensed, will join Eutelsat’s OneWeb and Reliance Jio’s satellite partner SES, as well as Elon Musk’s Starlink, in bidding […]

July 16, 2024

FAA suspends SpaceX launches

It wasn’t the best of weeks for the rocket launch industry. An Ariane 6 suffered a final stage engine failure which ruined its debut test flight. Then, on Friday July 12, (02.25 UTC), SpaceX lost a key second stage on its Falcon 9 which resulted in its cargo of 20 Starlink satellites in orbits that […]

July 15, 2024

SpaceX vs AST SpaceMobile 

During Q4, AST SpaceMobile is due to launch five of its massive ‘Block 1 BlueBird’ 5G-ready satellites into orbit. These satellites will deliver 5G signals.  In Q1 2025, AST has stated it will start launching its Block 2 BlueBird versions, which it says will be “ten times more powerful” and downloading at least 14 Mb/s […]

July 12, 2024

Eumetsat explains Ariane 6 cancellation

At the end of June a European meterological service cancelled the order it had in place with Arianespace for the launch next year of its latest Eumetsat satellite (MTG-S1). Eumetsat will now be launched on a SpaceX rocket. The decision caused consternation and much criticicm from the European Space Agency as well as Arianespace. Indeed, […]

July 11, 2024

AST SpaceMobile examines emergency call obligations

It is all very well for a satellite service to handle conventional calls to and from isolated locations, but the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) needed to clarify how true emergency calls would be directed. AST, in a filing to the FCC, has explained how 911 calls will be handled and which will almost certainly be […]

July 10, 2024

AST SpaceMobile promises US commercial services

AST SpaceMobile’s plans to place five of its ‘Block 1’ satellites into orbit are at an “advanced stage”, according to a Prospectus issued on July 3rd. The Prospectus was presented to the SEC in conjunction with a share transfer of 10.4 million shares from Antares Technologies LLC (a Cisneros-related business). AST is building a constellation […]

July 8, 2024