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.
The US government is cutting back on spending, and this is beginning to hurt Eutelsat’s revenues. While the satellite operator is stressing ‘business as normal’ and is firmly maintaining its official revenue guidance although admitting growth could be at the “lower end” of forecasts. It seems that shareholders took the warnings of lower revenues from […]
Brian Sullivan, CEO at Sky Deutschland, is doing rather well at his new Munich home. A long-term News Corp staffer, with a 13-year solid reputation built at BSkyB, he has been in post at Sky-D since January 2010. He inherited a subscriber base of 2.4 million, and a reputation that German viewers were somehow different […]
On January 31st an Intelsat satellite worth $406 million was lost just 40 seconds after lift-off from the Sea Launch floating rocket platform. The fault, in a Russian-built Zenith rocket, has now been identified, and Sea Launch says the launch platform is likely to return to business later this year. The failure has meant that […]
TopTV, a digital broadcasting rival to South Africa’s Multichoice, is in financial trouble. Up until now the front-runner to buy the troubled company was StarTimes, a China-backed operation with an existing portfolio of African-based pay-TV investments. A new potential buyer (‘Dynamic TV Consortium’) has now emerged in the shape of local South African entrepreneurs, but […]
Charlie Ergen’s Dish Network, never far from controversy, has been criticised by a Federal court judge for being “evasive” and “obstructive” during pre-trial discovery of documentation in a case alleging that Dish placed millions of unwanted telephone calls to consumers and violated telemarketing sales rules. The suit was started by the USA’s Federal Trade Commission […]
ODM, the Johannesburg-based pay-TV broadcaster which trades as TopTV, is suffering financial problems. Luxembourg-based SES owns 20 per cent of the business. A rescue plan is being mounted by China’s StarTimes Group, itself backed by serious cash investments from China’s Africa Development Fund (ADF) and the China Development Bank. Up until late 2012 the Chinese […]
When the books were closed at the end of April 17, it was revealed that Intelsat’s Initial Public Offering was very poorly supported. Even though the price range set by the company was for shares to be bought in the $21-$25 range, the actual price achieved was a disappointing $18. Intelsat sold just 19.3 million […]
Modern Times Group (MTG) unveils its results on April 18th, and market sentiment suggests the numbers may not be good. A report to clients from investment bankers Morgan Stanley states that while pay-TV in the Nordic region – where MTG mainly operates – is “well anchored”, and helped by MTG’s margin guidance of a 10-12 […]
Time Warner is reportedly the front runner to buy Turkey’s ATV broadcasting unit from Calik Holdings. A final decision could emerge towards the end of this month. ATV is a nationwide network and has been owned by Calik since 2007, headquartered in Istanbul. It was launched in 1993 by the giant Sabah conglomerate. […]
Service isn’t due to start until October, but last week the press had its first chance to get up close and personal to the first batch of O3b (serving the ‘Other 3 billion’) satellites at the Thales Alenia satellite facility near Rome. The first four satellites are scheduled to be launched in June, with another […]
ProSiebenSat.1 Q1 recovery; MFE readies bid?
Disney+ scores UEFA football in Denmark, Sweden
Ofcom outlines mmWave spectrum auction
IMG to enhance EFL broadcast and streaming offering
NBCUniversal rolls out personalised broadcast experiences
Ericsson Q1: Profits grow despite sales drop
Roberts Communications Network selects Appear X platform
Amagi announces collaboration with Argoid AI
Report: Wi-Fi 7 market hits $1bn before launch
Intelsat signs 2 broadcast deals in LatAm