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SES worries over upcoming Falcon-9 flight

Billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX Corporation is due to use its all-new Falcon-9 rocket to launch SES-8 for SES of Luxembourg later this month. The problem is that the rocket’s test flight on September 29th failed to correctly fire up its upper stage.  SES is concerned because without the all-important ‘second burn’ the rocket could leave […]

October 3, 2013

Russian and Kazakhstan argue over Astra launch

At 3.38am local time on September 30th, a giant Russian Proton rocket successfully launched Astra 2E for SES of Luxembourg. The launch should have taken place many weeks ago, but all activity on the Russian cosmodrome was halted following a July 2nd disaster when a similar Proton rocket went awry. But behind the scenes there […]

September 30, 2013

Eutelsat in trouble in Spain?

A Spanish newspaper, in an Editorial, is extremely critical of Eutelsat’s dealings with Madrid-based Hispasat and in particular Eutelsat’s successful bid for the SatMex company in Mexico which they allege was carried out to the detriment of Hispasat – in which Eutelsat is also a shareholder. The article in El Confidencial accuses Eutelsat of “double […]

September 27, 2013

Weather forecast fails Ofcom test

You wouldn’t think that a TV weather forecast could badly fail UK regulator Ofcom’s painstaking standards. In a report that also chastises Playboy TV for a single complaint about an after-midnight broadcast on its Playboy TV Chat channel, it also criticises Al Jazeera for its sponsored weather report. “A complainant drew Ofcom’s attention to the […]

September 23, 2013

Ergen’s DISH in trouble over sales calls

Dish Network, the US DTH giant, is in trouble with the US government over tele-marketing sales calls. The broadcaster has already faced sanctions when back in April the Federal Trade Commission filed its lawsuit alleging that Dish had violated the FTC’s rules and breached its ‘Do Not Call’ lists of consumers who had opted not […]

September 18, 2013

Deloitte: “4K is going to happen”

The pros and cons of 4K transmission have dominated this year’s IBC, with the debate causing deep divisions amongst some members of the broadcast community. Everyone recognises that 4K is now very definitely on the agenda, and most of the news is positive. Russia’s NTV+ plans of test transmissions of the Sochi Winter Olympics, for […]

September 16, 2013

O3b delays crucial launch

Jersey-based O3b is the new satellite constellation designed to bring connectivity and broadband to the world’s ‘other 3 billion’ people currently not served, or under-served, by terrestrial suppliers. Google, SES and Liberty Global are amongst the system’s backers.  However, there are problems. Two of the four satellites, launched in June, have suffered minor power anomalies. […]

September 12, 2013

Forget 4K. By Tokyo 2020 it will be 8K

In a few days’ time, delegates and exhibitors to IBC will be discussing the merits of 4K production for TV, with most industry observers now agreeing that 4K will be introduced commercially in 2014 and start making headway in 2015. But the decision to award to 2020 Summer Olympics to Tokyo fits in beautifully with […]

September 10, 2013

ViaSat hits SS/L with another lawsuit

ViaSat is a satellite broadband supplier serving consumers over North America. It already has an action running against Space Systems/ Loral, a satellite builder, alleging that SS/L has misused patents granted to ViaSat for its High Throughput broadband satellite – which SS/L built. Now ViaSat is alleging additional patent infringements against SS/L. The new action […]

September 6, 2013

Voda treasure opens bid window

Here in the UK we have just closed the football transfer window. This is an artificial period of time in which all buying and selling of players has to take place. The idea is to remove the destabilisation of players coming and going throughout the season. Now we just have the destabilisation of the deadline […]

September 3, 2013