Dominant Spanish telco Telefonica is to sell its 13 per cent stake in satellite operator Hispasat to Spanish infrastructure company abertis and satellite operator Eutelsat for €101 million. The deal sees Telefonica garner a capital gain of €47 million. Abertis paid €68 million for 7.2 per cent of Hispasat, leaving it with 41 per cent […]
China is continuing to be especially tough on the ownership of unauthorised satellite dishes, especially in its Tibetan (Malho) prefecture in Qinghai province. A crackdown over the past few days has seen “hundreds” of dishes and receivers confiscated, according to Radio Free Asia. Those found with the satellite equipment, which Tibetans have also used to […]
Speaking at CabSat MENA in Dubai, Mohamed Youssif, CEO of YahLive, tells Nick Snow about ambitious plans for the all-HD service in the year ahead.
Charlie Ergen’s Dish Network is bidding to buy telco Clearwire. It seems that Dish, in offering $2.2 billion for all of Clearwire’s shares (at $3.30 a share), has beaten existing Clearwire shareholder Sprint Nextel in the race to acquire the telco business. Sprint Nextel takes a different view and said it had no intention of […]
Paris-based satellite operator Eutelsat has launched a Europe-wide Ultra-HDTV channel. While recognising that the home audience for the channel is extremely limited, Eutelsat see the channel as being a showcase for production companies and other participants looking to gain experience. It will also permit the public to see the transmissions in electrical retailers with suitable […]
India’s DTH broadcasters have long complained about the low ARPU rates charged in the sub-continent. Videocon’s d2h service seems to be remedying the problem, with its latest half-year numbers showing a significant rise is subscribers and the its all-important ARPU rates. The rises are more than timely given that Videocon is planning to spin-off its […]
Yahlive, the Abu Dhabi-based DTH broadcaster, has certified more than 170 television dealers and installers in the Gulf having trained them in the merits of HDTV transmission. Yahlive very much concentrates on HD transmissions. The HD Academy road show is now being expanded to other cities in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar and Bahrain. Yahsat’s Y1A […]
India’s latest 5 year investment plan calls on the government to invest a massive 397.5 billion rupees (about $7.2 billion) in new satellite technology and DTH transponders. Part of the investment will go towards Earth observation as well as its own GPS system. However, India’s Space Research Organisation says it wants to build 14 telecoms […]
Amid reports that his near-namesake Gerry O’Sullivan – Deutsche Telekom’s SVP Global TV and Entertainment – is to leave his role, pay-TV operator Sky Deutschland has announced it has reached an agreement to extend the contract of Chief Executive Officer Brian Sullivan through December 2014. Sullivan said that being part of the Sky Deutschland team […]
The USA’s tough ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) rules currently applies to every nut and bolt on a broadcasting satellite, and has meant that US manufacturers cannot sell satellites or components that would be used on foreign, non-US, launchers or in some cases operated by certain foreign nations. Satellites, under the 1998 regulations, were […]