A few weeks ago Romain Bausch, the CEO of satellite operator SES, spoke ambitiously of further expansion for SES. He specifically mentioned two possible target operators: Intelsat, a similarly huge supplier of satellite capacity and services, and Telesat of Canada. Telesat is part-owned by Canadian pension interests and the investors behind Space Systems Loral. Evidently […]
Worldspace, the struggling pay-radio operator, is facing another challenge, this time from investors who allege certain wrongdoings over the broadcaster’s IPO. Last week Judge Peter Walsh, who is supervising Worldspace’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy, ruled that Worldspace must hand over all and any documents that lawyers have demanded in the long-running Class Action against Worldspace and […]
SES Astra has enhanced the programme offer for its 3D demo channel and entered into a partnership with Italian public broadcaster Rai for the delivery of experimental 3D content. The Astra 3D demo channel is broadcast free-to-air via Astra’s orbital position 23.5º East and features high quality 3D content including sports, music and entertainment. […]
BSkyB is in talks to broadcast a 24-hour rolling news service in Arabic, based in Abu Dhabi, as part of a joint venture with a local private investor, according to reports. Entering a highly competitive market, the satellite channel would launch under the Sky News name and be the UK broadcaster’s first venture into a […]
Germany's second largest cable operator Unitymedia has confirmed it will close down its DTH satellite platform arenaSAT on September 30th. The company said it wants to focus on its core business of triple play services for cable households. Since Sky Deutschland became the exclusive rights holder for Bundesliga football, subscriber numbers have dropped considerably. At […]
Rumours of a bid by News for BskyB come and go like the seasons. But there was never much doubt that when he judged the time was right Rupert Murdoch would try and retake control of Sky. It is twenty years ago that he lost control and he has wanted back ever since. When Sky, […]
Will regulators allow the bid? News has probably taken the view that as regulators clearly already treat BskyB as if News controls it, then this might not be as big a hurdle as some expect. It’s another reason – as is the fact the regulator’s consideration will doubtless be time consuming – other shareholders will cheerfully sell up if their price demands are met.
Telenet, the Belgian MSO, had 1,065,000 digital homes as of March 31, 2010 but is still losing basic analogue subscribers to the fierce competition from Belgacom, which offers 'free' TV with a number of its broadband and telephony packages. During the first quarter 144,000 new customers signed up. Digital TV added 65,000 homes, while 34,000 […]
Nagravision has announced the execution of a ten-year Conditional Access System agreement with Cyfrowy Polsat, Polands leading DTH platform. Through this new agreement, Nagravision underlines its long-term commitment to Cyfrowy Polsat and its confidence in the on-going growth of digital pay TV in Poland. Cyfrowy Polsat will benefit from Nagravision's innovative security solutions. The contract […]
Freesat, the free-to-air satellite TV service, launches its latest integrated marketing campaign on 1st April. The campaign incorporates TV, press, digital, social media and PR and focuses on Freesat's HD offering ahead of the World Cup that Freesat will show in HD nationwide and subscription-free on BBC HD and ITV1 HD channels. Freesat has also […]