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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.

Mixed messages for Avanti

The past week has seen London-based speciality satellite operator Avanti Communications have something of a roller-coaster in terms of its share price, and market reception. Last week saw Avanti announce a contract win from mobile telco giant Vodafone, which immediately propelled Avanti’s share price from the previous week’s miserable £1.95 (€2.29) to a much healthier […]

February 26, 2014

Concerns over SES progress

Last Friday’s results from Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES have now been digested by the market, and one investment bank didn’t much care for what they saw. Morgan Stanley, in a note to clients, welcomed SES’s guidance that this year should drive revenues up 6-7 per cent but then said that they were expecting more! The […]

February 25, 2014

SES set to be No 1, and very ready for 4K

Luxembourg-base SES is already carrying more than 6230 satellite channels, some 18 per cent of the world’s total channels (35,000), and this year – if its forecasts are reasonably accurate – the operator will overtake Intelsat as the world’s largest satellite business measured by revenues. The reason is that Intelsat is very dependent on so-called […]

February 24, 2014

SES: ‘Roll on 2014’

Let’s be clear. SES CEO Romain Bausch didn’t say “roll on 2015” as he delivered the satellite operator’s 2013 end of year numbers. But 2014 should see fewer satellite delays, a reinforced position in fast-developing markets, a new income stream from its O3b data and broadband constellation, and recent investment that starts to pay back. […]

February 21, 2014By Chris Forrester

“Cavalier” Virgin Media causes London gridlock

UK cable giant Virgin Media has again incurred the wrath of London roads regulator Transport for London (TfL) by digging up 5 lanes of the hugely busy A316 arterial road into London ahead of the morning rush-hour. Virgin Media had permission to dig up one lane at a time and to carry out the works […]

February 20, 2014

BSkyB: “A spiral of increasing costs”

The past few weeks have not been good for British pay-TV giant BSkyB. This week has seen BSkyB lose a Court battle with rival Virgin Media, and the growing success of arch-rival BT Sport is worrying for Sky. Fighting back against the threat posed by BT Sport has seen Sky start to secure a large […]

February 19, 2014

India’s Videocon d2h sets sights high

India’s Videocon d2h branded satellite broadcasting operation is aiming to quickly move into the Top 3 slot amongst India’s hugely competitive DTH broadcasters. Last year (2013) they achieved growth of 26-27 per cent, and taking their total subscriber base to more than 10 million. D2h’s CEO Anil Khera says that 2013 saw a 1TB set-top […]

February 18, 2014

SES: An “Ultra good story”

Analysts at investment bank Berenberg say they expect satellite operator SES to announce positive full-year results on February 21st (to December 31st) but perhaps more importantly to announce an improved guidance for 2014’s numbers and beyond. Senior analyst Sarah Simon states that SES is a “top pick” for 2014, and headlines her note to clients […]

February 17, 2014

Sky Deutschland: 2014 targets “may be conservative”

UK number-crunchers at Enders Analysis say that Sky Deutschland’s 400,000-450,000 net subscriber additions targeted by the pay-TV business this year “is realistic”. Indeed, Enders adds: “The €70-90 million EBITDA [official] guidance may be conservative”. “Without any direct competitor, Sky is rightly enhancing its all-in-one premium appeal. This supports ARPU growth and increases its distinctiveness compared […]

February 14, 2014

Gulf anger over Premier League blackout

This past weekend subscribers to Dubai-based OSN lost coverage of the English Premier League as well as other premium football matches. Initially OSN blamed a “technical issue”. But OSN is now firmly blaming supplier and rights holder Al Jazeera Sports (which now calls itself beIN Sports). Al Jazeera Media Network admits that it has changed […]

February 13, 2014