Advanced Television

DTH/Satellite

India’s Dish TV ups ARPU

Dish TV, India’s largest DTH operator, raised its ARPU 5.1 per cent last year. The price rise takes average subscription rates to Rs 165 a month ($2.79). The broadcaster added 200,000 net new subscribers in the quarter to June 30th. Dish TV also added 5 new HD channels, taking the total to 25 channels. Subhash […]

July 29, 2013

O3b satellites signed off

The first four satellites in what will end up being a 12-satellite constellation have been formally ‘accepted’ into orbit late on July 26th, according to builder Thales Alenia Space. Transfer of control for the O3b first batch is in progress, from the Thales Alenia Space Control Centre, in Cannes, to the O3b control centre, in […]

July 29, 2013By Chris Forrester

Record results for BSkyB

As if to give two fingers to arch-rival BT, BSkyB detailed a very long list of record financial and operational achievements in its 12-months (to June 30th) statement early on Friday morning (July 26th). It also introduced a new number, one that echoed cable’s old Revenue Generating Units, but in Sky terms it translates to […]

July 26, 2013By Chris Forrester

SES: ‘Steady as she goes’

SES is still suffering the legacy hangover of last year’s German analogue business (which switched off in April) and which makes this current year’s revenues difficult to compare. Strip out last year’s analogue income and SES can justifiably claim revenue growth of an appealing 7.2 per cent. Leave the old analogue in, and the revenue […]

July 26, 2013By Chris Forrester

OTT growth spurs operator transcoder investment

Market research firm Infonetics Research released excerpts from its Broadcast and Streaming Video Equipment and Pay-TV Subscribers report, which tracks pay-TV subscribers and video equipment sold to telco IPTV, cable, and satellite providers. “With competition and content heating up, pay-TV providers are transitioning their traditional, broadcast-focused video processing environments to ones that can ingest, process, […]

July 26, 2013

Eutelsat’s smart LNB for DTH connected TV

Satellite operator Eutelsat has confirmed the successful completion of the first phase of development of a ‘smart LNB’ for a Direct-to-Home antenna that opens the door for broadcasters to operate their own ecosystem of linear television and connected TV services directly by satellite. The ‘smart LNB’ is now entering into the industrialisation phase in advance […]

July 25, 2013

Freesat: Continued growth

UK free-to-air digital satellite television provider Freesat has reported its 21st quarter of consecutive growth, adding 145,000 homes to the service in the last twelve months. The continued growth of the subscription-free service – jointly owned by BBC and ITV – is expected to outpace pay-TV rivals, Sky and Virgin Media, in the same period. […]

July 24, 2013

Intelsat buys from SS/L

Intelsat has ordered another giant satellite from Space Systems/Loral, making the order the 50h craft to be procured from SS/L. Intelsat 34 is – in essence – the replacement for Intelsat 27. “Our four decade history with Intelsat goes back to some of the earliest commercial satellites ever built,” said John Celli, president of SSL.  […]

July 24, 2013By Chris Forrester

Platco Digital expands in South Africa with SES

SES has announced a 15-year contract with Platco Digital, a sister company of the South African independent broadcaster e.tv, to broadcast a new free-to-air service in South Africa, with future plans to expand across Southern Africa. The contract for two transponders, with an option for additional capacity in 2014, will allow the DTH transmission of […]

July 24, 2013

FCC: Increased pay-TV provider competition

Findings from the US’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) indicate increased competition in the market for the delivery of video programming. The findings emerged as the FCC adopted its 15th Report to Congress on the status of the market. The Report, which covers 2011 and 2012, measures the market’s progress toward increasing competition and diversity in […]

July 23, 2013By Colin Mann