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.
On the one hand everything for BSkyB is looking pretty rosy. Its acquisition of its counterparts in German and Italy is shaping up well, and James Murdoch’s highly positive comments at MIPCOM on October 13th should have helped this rosy glow. However, a report from Berenberg Bank stays negative, and the bank is advising investors […]
Arabsat’s current procurement and RFPs include options for all-electric satellites, thereby saving weight and thus significantly trimming launch costs. Khalid Balkheyour, CEO at Arabsat, says that all options are open for discussion on the RFPs now being examined. “We also gave [the potential suppliers] the option of quoting for one large satellite or two smaller […]
The general consensus in the US seems to be that the proposed merger between DBS pay-TV operator and giant telco AT&T will get Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval. The FCC has now closed its period for the general public and interested parties to make their comments heard. The FCC will reply to those comments on […]
BBC Monitoring is reporting that Ukrainian channel Inter TV is having its news bulletins and political talk shows “systematically jammed”. A correspondent for the channel said that the State Centre for Radio Frequencies had confirmed that the channel’s signal was being jammed at the stage of transmission to the satellite using a “vehicle with a […]
Israel’s AMOS satellite is suffering jamming. Ukraine’s Inter TV is reported to have had some of its shows interrupted. BBC Monitoring is reporting that deliberate interference began on September 28th. The head of the Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), Markiyan Lubkivskyy, said; “In particular, [the signal] is being blocked by means of 500-watt radio waves targeting […]
There are plenty of highly competitive suppliers of satellite capacity operating above Romania, but now the country wants its own craft. Razvan Cotovelea, minister for Communication and Information Society in the Romanian government, says it intends to acquire a satellite which would offer communication services for both the private and public sectors. “We will start […]
Colombia has scrapped plans to buy and launch its own $250 million satellite, and instead will continue to lease capacity, data and imagery from other international satellite operators. Colombia’s vice-president German Vargas says the country does not have the budget. “We have explored the possibility over the last few years but the government concluded that […]
A comprehensive report to clients from investment bank Berenberg and which has compiled a series of ‘price tracker’ statistics on UK content and telco aggregators, says that BSkyB is still engaged in a period of “intense promotional activity” despite such efforts normally being more subdued with the start of the football season. “This year, however, […]
The Middle East’s Broadcast Satellite Anti-Piracy Coalition, meeting in Cairo, say that their organisation has grown by six new members, including Rotana, ART, IAA, the Egyptian Chamber of Commerce, Gulfsat and WWE. The Coalition also says that as a result of their efforts, 15 channels have been taken off air because of piracy in their […]
Middle East Broadcasting’s (MBC) CEO Sam Barnett says that his region is already home to about 1000 channels, many of them small and serving local audiences, but that it could absorb “several thousands more”. He said 100 were launched last year, about 43 in Kurdish alone. “There are lots more to come,” he added. Indeed, […]
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