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. […]
The consensus is that Sky Deutschland’s Q2 numbers, out August 14, will be solidly respectable and continue the gains of recent quarters. Investment banker Morgan Stanley reminds us that Q1’s numbers showed gross adds of 155,000 (net about 73,000) for the quarter-year, churn of some 10.8 per cent (annualised) and monthly ARPU of €31.76. For […]
AMC’s increasingly bitter carriage fee dispute with EchoStar’s Dish Network may lead to the broadcaster not showing its channels in the future. Giving credence to the argument were comments made by Dish’s boss Charlie Ergen saying that most Dish subscribers hadn’t noticed that AMC’s channels hadn’t been available. AMC’s channels, which include Sundance, AMC itself […]
Rocket failures are not new, but they seem to happen all-too-often with Russia’s Proton rocket system. Even satellite handling at the Baikonur cosmodrome has seen foolish mistakes happen which have cost millions of dollars to remedy. But Russia’s prime minister (and former president) Dmitry Medvedev, addressing a cabinet meeting in Moscow on August 9th, promised […]
NDS, now part of Cisco, and Canal Digital, DTH pay-TV provider in the Nordics, are collaborating to launch a next-generation TV platform as a hosted, managed service. Enabling both satellite and OTT service delivery, the new platform will allow Canal Digital subscribers to access content anytime, anywhere and on multiple devices – whether in the […]
Spanish media group Prisa TV, owner of digital DTH platform Canal Plus, is developing, along with Cisco, a new generation of its iPlus STB to be launched in 2013 in an attempt to strenghthen its interactive capacity and integrate new functionalities. Currently, its iPlus hybrid-PVR subscriber total stands at 574,440 with a growth of 33.2 per cent […]
Broadcasting giant TV Globo is a small (7 per cent) stakeholder in Sky Brazil which is controlled by DirecTV. Over the years Globo has won variations of the transmission licence which allows it to operate spin-off pay-TV systems in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. However, officially the law bans “sound and image” companies such […]
India’s Bharti Airtel DTH operation is again losing cash after four quarters of profits. While the loss is modest (Rs23m), it follows four healthy quarters. Airtel DTH also added 172,000 net new subscribers, although churn grew from 1.2 per cent/month, to a worrying 1.7 percent. Airtel has a total 7.4 million clients. Market leader remain […]
Last Monday’s Proton rocket failure means that all launches from the Baikonur cosmodrome are suspended. This includes Echostar’s latest satellite, Echostar-XVI. The satellite, originally expected to launch in September, is now to be stored at Space Systems/Loral’s Palo Alto facility pending results of the investigation board. Michael Dugan, President/CEO of Echostar, told analysts that it […]
DISH Network, the second-largest satellite TV operator in the US, posted lower second-quarter net income attributable to the company of $226 million from $335 million in the prior-year quarter. The company said that net income was negatively impacted by $43 million as a result of the loss of the 148-degree orbital slot licence in the […]