France’s Competition Authority, l’Autorité de la concurrence, has approved the acquisition of satellite broadcaster TPS by Vivendi Universal and Canal Satellite and Canal Plus subject to a number of conditions aimed at restoring sufficient competition in the pay-TV market. The authority had reversed its 2006 authorisation in September 2011, fining the parties €30 million and […]
Satellite operator Eutelsat has lost power from six full transponders on its Eutelsat-25A craft which mainly serves the Middle East. The loss has been confirmed by France’s National Frequency Agency and Eutelsat itself. The interference has been in effect since July 14. The French agency says it has made a formal complaint to the International […]
BSkyB unveils its latest financial results this coming Thursday and the expectations are that the pay-TV broadcaster will declare record profits of around £1.1 billion despite a slowdown in the growth of DTH subscribers. Sky has already announced higher subscription fees which kick in during the autumn and the risk, say some analysts, is that […]
It seems that ‘content is still king’ as far as broadcasters are concerned. While the 10-day stand-off between programme supplier Viacom and broadcast platform DirecTV was settled last Friday, the one element missing from the press statements was money! Now, if reports on Bloomberg and elsewhere can be believed, Viacom boss Phillipe Dauman can rub […]
Intelsat, the world’s leading provider of satellite services, thas announced that Harris CapRock Communications, a global provider of fully managed communications for remote and harsh environments, will utilise the Intelsat EpicNG platform on Intelsat 29e for advanced fixed and mobile services. Under a multi-year agreement, Harris CapRock will utilise the next- generation Intelsat EpicNG platform […]
Viacom and DirecTV have reached an agreement, ending a week-long black out of channels including Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central to DirecTV subscribers. Financial terms were not disclosed, but DirecTV said the resolution showed that programmers who try to bully distributors with blackouts won’t get better deals. DirecTV says the agreement will enable its 20 […]
HBO is launching a Russian version The premium channel, famous for shows such as “Game of Thrones”, “The Sopranos” and “Boardwalk Empire” is expected to be available on the NTV Plus satellite package and two cable systems, according to Russian newspapers. Viewers will be presented with a package with three localised channels, one showing TV […]
Following the successful delivery of the transmission services for the 31 Matches of Euro 2012, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and Eurovision have signed an exclusive, multiyear partnership for live, global audiovisual transmission services. Under the contract, all audiovisual UEFA programmes will be distributed around the world exclusively on the Eurovision satellite and […]
Arabsat, working with Dubai Media, is to offer Middle East viewers six channels of free-to-air Olympic Games channels. The channels will run from July 27th to August 12th. Khaled bin Ahmed Balkheyour, president/CEO of Arabsat, said, “We are pleased to develop our partnership with Dubai Media and to watch its continuous development, and we assure […]
Brazilian pay-TV cable operator Super i Telecom is to launch a national DTH service. ‘Super i’ operates in a couple of Brazil’s regions (Espiritu Santo and Mina Gerais) and has a modest 8,000 subscribers with the majority viewing its MMDS system established in 1993. With MMDS declining Super i’s management is shifting its attention to […]