Advanced Television

DTH/Satellite

Iran DTH TV heading for 100%

Despite occasional restrictions, the popularity of satellite-delivered TV in Iran has never been greater. A news report carried by BBC Monitoring, and quoting Tehran’s ‘Sharq’ newspaper, says ownership of satellite dishes and receivers in the nation is now running at about 71 per cent of all homes. Just 17 years ago (1995) ownership was barely […]

January 3, 2014By Chris Forrester

Eutelsat acquires Satmex

Eutelsat Communications has confirmed closure of the transaction to acquire 100 per cent of the share capital of Satélites Mexicanos (Satmex) having obtained all required government and regulatory approvals. The transaction amounts to $831 million. Welcoming the completion of the transaction, Michel de Rosen, Eutelsat Chairman and CEO, said: “With the acquisition of Satmex, Eutelsat […]

January 2, 2014

AMOS-4 reaches orbital position

Spacecom, the operator of the AMOS satellite fleet, has confirmed that the AMOS-4 communications satellite has successfully arrived at 65°E, its designated permanent service location. From here, the satellite will service broadband and broadcast providers throughout Southeast Asia, Russia, China and the Middle East. Following its launch, the satellite fulfilled IOT (In Orbit Tests) at […]

December 26, 2013

Qatar’s Es’Hail goes live

Qatar’s first satellite, Es’Hail-1, will make its commercial debut on December 30th when it carries the Qatar Exxon-Mobil tennis Open 2014 which starts in Doha, and runs until January 4th. Es’hailSat is the gold sponsor of the tournament being hosted by Qatar Tennis Federation. The tournament “coincides with the effective start of operations of the […]

December 26, 2013By Chris Forrester

Arianespace confirms launch dates

Commercial satellite operators figure well up the list of upcoming launches from French Guiana. Arianespace on December 19th launched the massive Gaia space telescope, and the next launch is being prepared for January 23rd 2014. That flight (the 217th) will orbit two telecommunications satellites: ABS-2 for Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) as well as the ATHENA-FIDUS […]

December 20, 2013By Chris Forrester

Cable revenue shrinks, telco IPTV and satellite surge

Analysis of worldwide video service revenue in the first half of 2013 (1H13) by market research firm Infonetics Research has revealed that telco IPTV operators continue to enjoy strong growth, largely to the detriment of incumbent cable operators. “Telco IPTV operators AT&T, China Telecom, and Deutsche Telekom continue to enjoy strong growth in new subscribers […]

December 19, 2013

Coup for SES in RAI deal

SES has won a contract from Italian public broadcaster RAI to carry 4 of its HD channels on an Astra satellite from the SES ‘hot spot’ at 19. 2 degrees East. The deal is somewhat unexpected given that the channels are already available from arch-rival Eutelsat as part of its TivùSat ‘free-to-view platform. SES CCO […]

December 19, 2013

KT sale of satellite to ABS outlawed

South Korea’s science and telecommunications ministry has said that it has cancelled the overseas sale of a satellite by the nation’s second mobile carrier, KT Corp. It also cancelled some of the frequency bandwidths allotted to the mobile carrier after it sold a retired communications satellite to a foreign company without informing the government. KT […]

December 18, 2013

2013/14 inflection point for broadband by satellite

NSR’s Broadband Satellite Markets 12th Edition report forecasts the entire broadband satellite market’s installed base of VSAT sites, broadband access subscribers, trunking and backhaul sites will increase by just over 5 million by 2022 and generate $9.9 billion in revenues. Fully 87% of this growth will come from new subscribers to satellite broadband access services […]

December 17, 2013

AsiaSat orders Number 9

AsiaSat of Hong Kong is ordering its 9th communications satellite, and bizarrely it might even carry a weather sensor to the craft’s payload. Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) gets the order that will have Ku, Ka and C-Band transponders for the $164 million satellite that will eventually replace AsiaSat-4 in mid-2016. The weather portion of the satellite […]

December 17, 2013By Chris Forrester