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 August 22nd two Galileo/GPS satellites were placed into a useless orbit. Now, an Israeli company is suggesting it can build a micro-satellite which would – in effect – rescue the two Galileo craft. Effective Space Solutions, based in Tel Aviv, says its DeOrbiter proposed rescue satellite could save not only these two Galileo satellites, […]
September 2nd sees the first of BSkyB’s financial roadshow presentations take place with the aim of raising the extra cash it needs to buy Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia. Financial reports suggest that BSkyB is looking to raise $2 billion. Last week BSkyB mandated three banks (Barclays, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley) to lead the […]
Pay-TV operator StarTimes Group is potentially in hot water in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), StarTimes is extremely active with subscription TV in Africa and is stuck in the middle of a political dispute between two senior politicians in the country. On the one hand there’s the head of the Congo’s Post & Telecoms […]
Eutelsat and Intelsat are being given permission by the USA State Department to carry Iranian satellite channels. The two satellite operators were previously barred from carrying the channels in 2012, and the Iranians quickly reorganised their broadcasting with Russian and Middle East broadcasters picking up the contracts. Now the State Department says Eutelsat and Intelsat […]
European space activity suffered another catastrophic failure on August 22nd when an Arianespace Soyuz rocket failed to correctly launch a pair of Galileo global positioning satellites. While not affecting the TV industry itself, the failure will place further delays on future launches with Soyuz rockets pending an official Board of Inquiry into the loss. The […]
Turkey is about to open its own high-performance satellite facility as well as setting up a sophisticated satellite test centre. The new factory has been built at the Akinci Air Force base, near Ankara, the nation’s capital city. New satellites, numbered Turksat 5A, 5B and 5C, will be built and assembled at the new plant. […]
Abu Dhabi already has tough rules on satellite dishes which state that a maximum of four may be mounted on the Emirate’s roofs. The capital city’s administration has now called on residents to remove satellite dishes that clutter up building roofs and apartment balconies. Abu Dhabi’s The Nation newspaper quotes Ahmed Al Mazroui, the director […]
Arguments over subscriber numbers and alleged under-reporting are not new, especially in India. But a recent high-profile argument between Hathway Cable and broadcasters Zee, Star and Turner, has raised the hackles at India’s TRAI regulator and its associated Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate & Tribunal (TDSAT) which admits it is more than somewhat annoyed by having […]
Loral Space & Communications won a spectacular reversal of the ViaSat action on August 8th – as far as damages are concerned – and which alleged that Loral’s then subsidiary Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) had misused ViaSat-owned patents. Back in April ViaSat had been awarded $283 million damages by a jury, which found wholly in ViaSat’s […]
A major report on “Rupert, the Bear” and BSkyB’s expansion into Europe, from Berenberg Bank reads: “BSkyB is going from a relatively simple, cash-generative business with an underleveraged balance sheet, returning cash to shareholders, to a highly-leveraged, complex business that will need to lower leverage before it can consider a return to buybacks. In some […]
Parties lobby against US sports streaming JV
Sony, Apollo table $26bn offer for Paramount
Report: Asian Americans lead US streaming consumption
Fubo Q1 exceeds guidance
Study: VPNs boosting piracy in France
Lockheed Martin drops bid for Terran Orbital
Portugal: DAZN acquires F1 rights
Banijay Kids & Family unveils portfolio of hub channels
Curiosity, Estrella FAST channels on Samsung TV Plus
SAG-AFTRA to license Nielsen streaming data