We reported before the holiday that Al-Jazeera’s news and entertainment channels were to switch to Qatar’s own Es’Hail-1 satellite. It is now clear that the new transmission model includes Al-Jazeera’s non-news channels, as well as its ‘English’ and ‘America’ versions of its news channel. The decision covers channels from Al-Jazeera Media Network. Transmissions are already […]
There are major plans ahead for AsiaSat, and which might end up with AsiaSat being delisted from the Hong Kong stock exchanged. The starting point is that investment fund Carlyle Group has agreed to buy General Electric’s stake in AsiaSat for HK$3.75 billion (US$483m). This move – if enough holders of Chinese government-backed bonds agree […]
SES’s Astra 2G satellite has been successfully launched on an ILS Proton Breeze M booster at 03:37:49 Baikonur time (22:37:49 CET and 16:37:49 EST on December 27th). After a nine-hour, 12-minute mission, the Breeze M upper stage of the Proton rocket successfully released the Astra 2G satellite into geostationary transfer orbit. Astra 2G will be […]
Reports have emerged in Turkey that a prominent Qatari businessman has agreed to pay $820 million for a 53 per cent stake in Turkish pay-TV platform Digiturk. Nasser Al Khelaifi, the chairman and CEO of beIN Media Group, which runs beIN Sports, is understood to have acquired the stake from Turkey’s Savings Deposit Insurance Fund, […]
Brazilian telecoms regulator Anatel has presented a proposal to compel satellite DTH operators to supply hybrid set-top boxes. The change to the nation’s Regulation of Conditional Access Services would see boxes issued that were also capable of receiving free-to-air digital terrestrial signals. Anatel says it wants pay-TV operators to give equal treatment to locally transmitted […]
SES has announced that the Astra 2G satellite is ready for its scheduled launch on board an ILS Proton booster from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on December 28th. Designed and manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space, Astra 2G is based on the Eurostar E3000 platform. Astra 2G will be deployed in geostationary orbit at […]
21st Century Fox has blocked DISH customer access to Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network, with the satellite operator accusing the media conglomerate of introducing other channels into negotiations, despite those channels not being included in the contract up for renewal. “It’s like we’re about to close on a house and the realtor is […]
SES-backed O3b now has its first constellation of 12 satellites in orbit. Four additions were lofted into space late on December 19th, by an Arianespace Soyuz rocket from the Kourou, French Guiana, spaceport. The complex mission worked perfectly and after a 2 hour 22 minute flight, the first pair of satellites were released from the […]
Italian free-to-view DTH service TivuSat has added 275,000 net new subscribers during 2014, and taking its total to more than 2.3 million ‘active’ smart cards. The broadcast platform says its numbers are the equivalent of some 1.9 million households, or more than 8 per cent of Italian TVHHs. TivuSat’s success, in part, explains why Sky […]
Eutelsat Communications and nc+, a driving force in pay-TV services in Poland, have confirmed the signature of a major contract for the renewal of nine transponders at Eutelsat’s Hot Bird video neighbourhood. The agreement equips nc+ to pursue the expansion of its platform of digital services that broadcasts to 2.2 million subscriber homes equipped for […]