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 current and former BBC execs behind the £100 million+ cancelled Digital Media Initiative (DMI) have been condemned by new BBC Director General Tony Hall. Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, and following some bruising criticism from delegates to last week’s Edinburgh Television Festival, Lord Hall said the DMI project which he scrubbed in April “was […]
Arabsat has signed a groundbreaking agreement with Qatar’s Es’HailSat. The deal takes the shape of a “strategic partnership” at the 26 degrees East orbital spot. Arabsat already has satellite capacity at 26 degrees East, while Es’HailSat’s first satellite will launch on August 29th to the adjacent 25.5 degrees position. The 26 degrees East slot is […]
BT is supplying its BT Sports channel to Virgin Media’s cable customers via a wholesale agreement. The news has gone down well with the market. Investment banker Morgan Stanley, for example, described it as a “good deal” for BT, and Virgin. “The agreement,” says the bank, “means that Virgin customers will no longer have to […]
A week ago investment bank Morgan Stanley was describing Sky Deutschland as its ‘best in class’ broadcaster’. It is easy to see why, given that Sky-D has plenty of growth headroom, 100 per cent control of German football, no problems with the regulators and a good relationship with almost all of its rivals. This is […]
Sky Deutschland’s numbers earlier this week certainly impressed the market. With Q2 subs growth of 48,000 and much better than expected, CEO Brian Sullivan is now guiding for a “new era” at Sky-D and that subs growth for the full year will be “above 351,000” and the market consensus is now to expect 350,000-400,000 for […]
Charlie Ergen, in a conference call with analysts, happily confirmed that a much-talked about potential merger between his flat-lining pay-TV broadcaster DISh and rival DirecTV as making sense. “There’s no question that putting DISH and DirecTV together makes a lot of sense,” Ergen said Tuesday on DISH’s second quarter earnings call with analysts and reporters. […]
Electronics and media giant Sony is not out of the woods just yet. Despite a Q1 set of results that showed great progress since last year, Fitch Ratings, in a ratings note, says profitability in Sony’s core electronics businesses remains weak, and is not helped by competitive pressures and currency exchange rate risks. Sony’s Q1 […]
On July 31st Eutelsat, along with its end-of-year results, announced it was buying Mexico-based satellite operator SatMex for about $1.1 billion. The deal will probably close by the end of this year. Except the market is not sure it has done the right thing. Investment bank Morgan Stanley, for example, summed up the position saying […]
SiriusXM is borrowing $600 million which it will largely use to pay down existing debt. The bonds will only be available outside the US. The bonds will offer interest of 5.70 per cent, and used to pay down debt due in 2015 with an interest rate of 8.75 per cent. There is no suggestion – […]
The July 2nd catastrophic failure of a Russian Proton-M roc continues to make waves amongst the local rocket-building community. Reports suggest that key attitude sensors were inserted into the rocket upside down. Indeed, one wholly unconfirmed report says that the recovered parts showed signs of being forced into position. Russia’s deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin […]
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