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Analyst: Mega-constellations update

Quilty Analytics has provided a summary update on the various operators who are either planning to launch satellite mega-constellations, or already have. Starlink has confirmed that Japanese budget airline Zipair is to offer its broadband service on its flights. OneWeb has agreed a $50 million capacity deal with Canada’s Galaxy Broadband Communications, one of Canada’s […]

March 7, 2023

Arianespace’s Vega rocket loss explained

Arianespace says that a faulty component caused the loss of one of its Italian-made Vega rockets on December 20th 2022. The problem was probably caused by a faulty carbon component – in effect, a nozzle – which Italian aerospace group Avio had purchased from a supplier in Ukraine, Arianespace revealed as it published findings of […]

March 6, 2023

Maxar quiet on future satellite deliveries

Satellite builder Maxar Technologies is naturally reluctant to talk publicly about its satellite delivery dates – or any slippage in those delivery obligations. In future such news must come from its clients, says Maxar. One of the affected businesses is its own WorldView Legion imaging six-craft constellation. Maxar had previously talked in November last year […]

March 2, 2023

Bank: Does Eutelsat, OneWeb merger make sense?

Investment bank Berenberg, in a report on Eutelsat, says the Paris-based satellite operator is struggling to persuade investors that its merger with OneWeb makes sense. “The transformative deal, first announced in July 2022 and planned to complete in calendar Q2/Q3 2023, changes Eutelsat’s investment case from a highly cash-generative, dividend-paying value stock to a non-cash-generative, […]

February 28, 2023

Sony, Zee merger stalls

The much-delayed merger between India’s Sony and Zee Entertainment (ZEEL) has not – yet – hit the buffers. Zee’s MD Punit Goenk has said that he expects a timely completion of a merger. However, ZEEL told a tribunal on February 24th that its merger with Sony’s India division will “get stuck” due to the initiation […]

February 27, 2023

Bank: Challenging year ahead for games

Investment bank Jefferies, which recently opened up detailed coverage of the video games industry, says that from interviews and discussions it has had with investors who generally remain “bullish” on the sector, but view the next 12 months for the sector as challenging. Jefferies says the sentiment overall was one of “let’s talk next year”, […]

February 24, 2023

Analyst: AMC’s restraint applauded

The chair of AMC Networks, James Dolan, helped by a couple of family generations involved in the pay-TV business, has bluntly said that the streaming business model is broken. He added that while some M&A could help, such deals are not the answer. Analysts at MoffettNathanson (MN) agree with Dolan and say that change in […]

February 23, 2023

Analyst: Viasat guidance dialled back

California-based satellite operator Viasat has suffered a negative report from Quilty Analytics. The analysts point out to clients that Viasat has “dialled back” guidance for 2023, not helped by delays to the launch of the first of its latest trio of sophisticated satellites. Quilty says: “For the second consecutive quarter, shares of Viasat sold off […]

February 22, 2023

AMC on SVoD: “It’s broken”

It takes someone with the self-confidence born of being born into one of the founding families of second-generation television to call out that the third-generation simply isn’t working. James Dolan is the chair of AMC Networks, the content spin-off of Cablevision, one of the founding father companies of the US, then global, cable and pay-TV […]

February 21, 2023

SES-18 and 19 readied for launch

The SES-18 and 19 satellites have left Northrop Grumman’s facility near Dulles airport in Washington DC and are headed to Florida for a launch date with SpaceX. These pair of satellites are the last in the overall six-craft mission for SES to replace orbital assets following on from the freeing up of C-band frequencies for […]

February 21, 2023