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 past few months have seemed to herald a softer time for foreign channels trying to gain entry into India’s buoyant broadcasting market. Not quite. New rules issued October7 by India’s powerful Information and Broadcasting Ministry has set high tariff rules for would-be broadcasters. The rules come with a message designed to deter non-serious applicants […]
The BBC is expected to lay off more than 2000 staffers as it adjusts to life with lower annual income. The bottom line is that the BBC must slash its £3.5 billion ($5.4bn) budget by some 20 per cent in order to stay solvent. The BBC employs some 18,000 staff in the UK, although grows […]
Luxembourg-based SES has been involved in a dispute with Lockheed Martin Space Systems involving millions of dollars, and specifically involving one of Lockheed’s A2100 satellites. While details are of the dispute are sketchy, SES bought two satellites from Lockheed, (SES Astra’s 1KR craft, and Astra 1L) and the argument involved the performance of a satellite […]
America’s leading media stocks have seen massive falls in the value as the Dow Jones index continues to suffer a major fall as anxiety increrases over deficits and growth. Most of the USA’s cable stocks fell back on September 22nd. Time-Warner was the exception (up 1 per cent) but its stable-mates all suffered: Comcast […]
YahLive, the satellite broadcasting portion of Abu Dhabi-based YahSat that is managed by SES, is close to signing up its first all-HDTV capacity bookings. While commercial terms have not been revealed, it is understood that the first transponder rentals will go to channels from Abu Dhabi TV. SES admits it is an ambitious “even […]
US pay-radio broadcaster Sirius-XM is in great shape and in formal guidance is predicting a double-digit revenue increase for 2012. CEO Mel Karmazin told a Bank of America conference last week that he’d like to use Sirius’s growing cash pile to help fund a suitable acquisition – but there wasn’t much about! Instead, his Board […]
It wasn’t so very long ago that Iridium, the global/mobile satellite phone and data service, was languishing in Bankruptcy Court. Now, having restructured, it is declaring more than 500,000 subscribers around the world, with some 10 percent made up of US governmental (AKA military) users. “Our consistent double-digit growth in subscribers – more than 25 […]
Satellite operator SES used IBC to unveil its new logo, and told press and conference delegates that it was now carrying 5,905 channels and radio networks and that more than 2400 were being transmitted over Europe. SES is claiming the world’s top spot for HDTV channels, with 1,071 now on air around the globe. (although […]
SES has struck up another of its special relationship agreements. This time it is Russia’s Gazprom and its Gazprom Space Systems division. SES now has a “strategic partnership” with the giant Russian company to provide new satellite capacity to serve the fast-growing Russian market. The deal was announced at the Euroconsult Paris satellite conference. […]
Last week’s Vivendi results were close to the market’s expectations, although there was subsequently some changes to guidance during the post-results analysts’ calls. For example, Vivendi’s Activision-Blizzard games division saw its guidance raised substantially, with the potential of even further progress. Vivendi is a much diversified business, especially in the telecoms sector, and while the […]
Disney+, Hulu, Max bundle rolls out in US
Vivendi H1 boosted by Lagardère, Canal+
Liberty Global Q2 revenue up 1.4%
Canal+ launches in Hungary
Ofcom publishes draft guidance on transparency reporting
Vodafone profits hit €9bn
US video game actors strike
ACE hails Vietnam anti-piracy actions
UK Media Department ministerial briefs confirmed
The Mediapro Studio acquires Fresco Film