Advanced Television

DTH/Satellite

EchoStar and AsiaSat form DTH joint venture

EchoStar Corporation, provider of end-to-end pay TV delivery systems and equipment for satellite, IPTV, cable, terrestrial and consumer electronics markets, and AsiaSat Asia’s leading satellite operator, have formed a joint venture for the delivery of a direct-to-home (DTH) satellite television service to Taiwan and other targeted regions in Asia. The satellite TV service will broadcast […]

June 3, 2009

Eutelsat sales increase

France’s Eutelsat, the world’s third-largest satellite operator, has raised its full-year revenue targets after posting a 5.6 per cent increase in third-quarter sales. The company said it now expected full-year sales of E925 million against E910 million previously forecast. The group had already raised its revenue guidance from E900 million to E910 million three months […]

May 15, 2009

EC paves the way for mobile satellite services

The European Commission has selected two operators, Inmarsat Ventures Limited and Solaris Mobile Limited, to provide mobile satellite services across Europe. The services, such as high-speed Internet access, mobile television and radio or emergency communications, will be provided over a specifically reserved spectrum. The Commission says both satellite operators demonstrated an advanced level of technical […]

May 15, 2009

DirecTV Q1 profit down, subs up

DirecTV has reported that first-quarter earnings fell 46 per cent even as subscriber growth hit a four-year high. Chief Executive Chase Carey said he expects intense competition to continue in the pay-TV business, as providers fight for consumers who have become more sensitive to price. Still, he predicted that customers will cut their spending to […]

May 12, 2009

Premiere rebranded Sky

German pay-TV station Premiere will change its brand name to Sky despite heavy write-downs on the Premiere brand name. Premiere will trade under the Sky name as do other pay-TV stations partly or fully owned by News Corp. News Corp. has a 30.5 per cent stake in Premiere, and it fully owns Sky Italia and […]

May 12, 2009

Dish Network Remote Access service

Dish Network has launched its Dish Remote Access service to customers across the US. The service – free to Dish Network customers with a broadband-connected ViP Series DVR – gives customers total access to all the features of their DVR from any Internet connected device, allowing them to manage their programming from anywhere in the […]

May 12, 2009

Dish proftis rise, subs drop

US satellite TV provider Dish Network Corp has posted better than expected quarterly profit, despite losing 94,000 subscribers. Net income rose to $312.7 million from $258.6 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 2.1 per cent to $2.91 billion. Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen, attributed the subscriber loss to the weak economic environment, as well as […]

May 12, 2009

Malone merges Liberty Entertainment and DirecTV

DirecTV will merge with John Malone's Liberty Entertainment to simplify its ownership structure and improve its ability to pursue deals; specifically making itself a more attractive target for one of the big telcos. Liberty Entertainment will be spun off from Liberty Media as previously announced, and will now include 54 per cent of the stock […]

May 5, 2009

SES sees core profits rise

SES has reported a 12.2 per cent rise in its first-quarter core profit, maintained its full-year forecast and said it signed a E2 billion credit facility. SES, the world’s second-largest satellite operator, said that EBITDA rose to E308.9 million. SES repeated its forecast of revenue growth between 3 per cent and 4 per cent on […]

April 24, 2009

SES Astra and Yahsat to start satellite company

SES Astra has made a partnership with the Arabic satellite operator Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat). They will create a new company operating under the YahLive brand that will offer Direct-to-Home (DTH) television capacity and services to more than two dozen countries in the Middle East, North Africa and South West Asia. YahLive will […]

April 22, 2009