The news from Unterföhring, near Munich, home of Sky Deutschland, was much, much better than expected. CEO Brian Sullivan, fresh from his annual holiday, used the clever device of delivering better results than the market forecast, and the old corporate mantra of under-promising and over-delivering has worked well for him and his team. While the […]
Research from analyst firm IHS suggests that subscriber additions for US pay-TV operators fell by nearly 350,000 in the second quarter – the largest subscriber drop in history – as weakening economic conditions and strengthening competition from over-the-top (OTT) players such as Netflix continue to work against cable operators and even against the satellite segment. […]
Belgium’s largest cable operator Telenet has revealed plans to take on up to €700 million in debt and use the money to buy back shares. “Telenet … intends to implement a shareholder remuneration policy consisting mainly of share repurchases…..Telenet believes that the combination of the adjustment to the capital structure and the revised shareholder remuneration […]
Google Fiber is something pay TV operators should be “very, very afraid of,” said research group SNL Kagan. “Google is reinventing the business of pay TV and broadband — and it may not need to wire every US city to make an impact,” wrote SNL Kagan analys Deborah Yao, in the report’s lead. Two weeks […]
The broadcasting regulator of China has submitted a proposal to the State Council for the establishment of a national company to lead the integration of cable networks. The move is the latest step toward long-planned integration of media networks. The plan, proposed by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), is awaiting State […]
Liberty Global, the international cable TV company controlled by John Malone, posted $706.8 million in second-quarter earnings, reversing losses it posted in the quarter a year ago. Liberty Global, which operates cable TV and broadband systems in Europe and Latin America, earned the $706.8 million on second-quarter revenue of $2.5 billion. That compares to a […]
Fragmentation in Spanish TV market is intensifying with the three largest TV channels – Tele 5, Antena 3 and La 1 – pulling in a combined audience share of only 36.5 per cent. Tele 5 led the ratings in July with an average share of 13.3 per cent followed by Antena 3 with 12.5 per […]
Comcast, the largest cable company in the US, has reported net income of $1.35 billion for the April-to-June period, up 32 per cent from $1.02 billion a year ago. Revenue rose 6 per cent to $15.2 billion from $14.3 billion a year ago. Some of the increase was due to Comcast buying out another investor […]
The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) has announced the formal adoption of SCTE 184 and SCTE 186, the first two standards for energy management in the cable telecommunications industry. The standards, the first in a planned portfolio of energy-related specifications for the industry, have been created by the SCTE Standards Program’s Sustainability Management Subcommittee […]
Market research firm Infonetics Research released excerpts from two recent video reports – VoD and Encoder Equipment and Video Subscriber – which tracks equipment sold to telco IPTV, cable video, and satellite video providers, and Set-Top Boxes and Subscribers, which tracks IP, cable, satellite, and hybrid set-top boxes and OTT media servers. “2012 will be […]