France’s space minister, Genevieve Fioraso, has thrown considerable confusion over French plans for an updated version of the Ariane rocket launcher. The new version, Ariane 6, is going to cost €3 billion ($4bn) to develop, with 50 per cent of the cost funded by France (Germany 25 per cent, Italy 15 per cent, Switzerland & […]

Astra 5B has arrived at the Kourou spaceport ready for launch on an Ariane 5 rocket. Together with its fellow passenger (Hispasat’s Amazonas 4A craft) the two satellites are scheduled to be launched on March 21st in a launch window which opens at 7.05pm local time in French Guiana. The Astra 5B launch should have […]

Arianespace is not having the best of times. Despite an unblemished record of more than 50 totally successful satellite launches aboard its massive Ariane 5 rocket, it is under extreme pressure to look extremely hard at its manufacturing processes and reduce launch prices to the commercial sector. Arianespace’s CEO, Stephane Israel, speaking at Satellite 2014 […]

The annual ‘Big Four’ gathering at the giant Satellite show in Washington (SES’s Romain Bausch, Intelsat’s Dave McGlade, Eutelsat’s Michel de Rosen and Telesat’s Dan Goldberg), delivered some powerful home truths to the industry, with each of them combining to praise the innovation that’s come from Elon Musk and his SpaceX lower-cost rocket venture, and […]

BBC Monitoring has published a report, sourced from the Saudi Gazette, stating that Al Jazeera’s editorial office and facility in Saudi Arabia is to be closed. The report says: “A local source at the channel said the decision to close down the Qatari satellite channel provider would be implemented within the next few days. The […]

There used to be an entire industry devoted to Kremlin watching during the Cold War, it’s a pastime that’s enjoying – if that’s the right word – a revival just now. The BBC bureaucracy has sometimes been compared to the Kremlin and defining, deducing or second guessing its next move sometimes seems as fraught. Lord […]

James Murdoch, 21st Century Fox’s deputy COO, says recent disposals have freed up cash for reinvesting in the company’s core businesses, including sports channels. However, speaking at Morgan Stanley’s TMT conference in New York, he also said that 21st Century Fox would continue to look for potential acquisitions provided the price was right. Questioned as […]

The first ever closing of a BBC channel has been done to pave the way for the first ever tax imposed for receiving content over the Internet. The BBC, in the person of its Director General Lord Tony Hall, says the BBC is taking difficult and necessary decisions in the face of real term cuts […]

All satellite capacity in India has to be organised via the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) which has a monopoly on supplying transponders, and wholesaling the supply of capacity from non-ISRO satellites. Last year TataSky said it would sue ISRO for not making capacity available. There has been a four-year wait for capacity, not all […]

Getting a satellite into space is hard – and worrying – work for any broadcaster or operator. When that satellite also has an essential and massive antenna on board, it takes the headache to a new level. And when there’s past evidence that similar giant antennas can prove to be stubborn and not deploy then […]