Things were already bad at YouView, the UK’s struggling on-demand TV service, but there was complete meltdown on February 28th when the operation’s Chairman, Lord Alan Sugar (who fronts the UK’s version of The Apprentice reality TV show) and the owner of Channel 5, Richard Desmond reportedly came to near fisticuffs during a regular board […]
Eutelsat has been arguing with Deutsche Telekom over certain satellite assets at 28.5 degrees (which is the location used to beam hundreds of TV channels into the UK and Ireland). The dispute has been settled. The argument has been the subject of arbitration proceedings before the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris, and the result […]
Last week, satellite operator SES declared its full year 2012 results which were slightly below their original guidance to the market, with revenues not helped by further solar-array problems on its AMC-16 satellite (which is wholly leased to EchoStar) and a delayed approval of its EGNOS ‘super’ GPS cargo on SES-5. Egnos is a European […]
A major report from investment banker Morgan Stanley states that Modern Times Group is “structurally better positioned” for the future than its peers. The bank has upgraded its 2013 forecasts, themselves helped by good Q4 results unveiled last week. The report takes a segment by segment view of MTG’s key businesses although pulls no punches […]
There’s a lot to do with sport that is linked in some way to insanity. This is because the definition of insanity is to continue to repeat the same behaviour and yet expect a different outcome. Any of us that support a football team (or any other variety of team) year in, year out, knowing […]
Norway’s Telenor is a telco giant with business telephony interests throughout the world as well as Scandinavian subsidiaries such as Canal Digital (pay-TV), Conax (conditional access), Norkring (TV distribution) and its Telenor Satellite Broadcasting division. Group CEO Jon Fredrik Baksaas has told analysts that Telenor saw “immense developments in our industry. The world goes digital […]
Dish Network, never far from the courtroom, is suing sports giant ESPN for $152 million in a New York federal court in Manhattan. The argument concerns carriage deals, with Dish Network alleging that ESPN has broken the terms of a licensing agreement between the two parties. Barry Ostrager, a Dish lawyer from Simpson Thacher & […]
Last week the John Malone-controlled pay-radio operator unveiled record subscriber numbers as well as its best churn figures (1.8 per cent/month) for the past 5 years. The results also coincided with CEO Mel Karmazin stepping down (he went officially on Feb 1st) and being replaced by interim CEO Jim Mayer, who has a hard act […]
Thailand’s Food & Drug Administration has sent warning letters to 33 satellite channels saying they must stop airing “exaggerated” advertisements. The channels must immediately stop airing the commercials, or else face fines and potentially imprisonment. 301 channels were officially licensed (mostly with straightforward renewals) only last week by Thailand’s National Broadcasting & Telecommunications Commission, although […]
John Malone’s Liberty Global is making a bid for Virgin Media and the press somehow manages to work it up as a Malone versus Murdoch showdown. The notion of two aged Titans facing off in one of the world’s most developed media markets is tantalising, but is far from the reality. The world’s most experienced […]