Advanced Television

Broadcast

80th anniversary of world’s 1st continual broadcast

At 3pm on November 2nd 1936 the BBC launched the nation’s first regular TV service from Alexandra Palace. The single channel, regular television service has continued relatively uninterrupted (apart from War) to the modern day. Snell Advanced Media (SAM) believes television is now experiencing a similar revolution. Tim Thorsteinson, CEO at SAM, commented: “80 years […]

November 2, 2016

Pay-TV increases audience share in Portugal

Pay-TV channels, mainly those distributed via cable, have continued to gain in popularity in Portugal, hitting a 42 per cent audience share in 2015, according to a study by the Association of Independent Television Producers (APIT). The growth has been at the expense of the country’s three free-to-air broadcasters (RTP, SIC and TVI) that still […]

November 1, 2016From Branislav Pekic in Rome

Speedcast acquires Harris CapRock

Fast-growing satellite communications and facilities company Speedcast is to buy Harris CapRock, for $425 million (€386m). Harris CapRock has a strong position in supplying bandwidth and connectivity in the Energy and Maritime sectors. The acquisition strengthens SpeedCast’s already strong position in the Maritime industry, in which Harris CapRock has a leading position, and in particular, […]

November 1, 2016By Chris Forrester

SpaceX ready to restart launching

SpaceX, which on September 1st lost a valuable satellite in an explosion aboard one of its Falcon 9 rockets, is reportedly ready to return to flight operations. The rocket company said that it had managed to replicate the failure of the pressured Helium storage tank, thought to be the cause of the explosion. A Spacecom-owned […]

November 1, 2016By Chris Forrester

Discovery reports flat Q3 revenue

Discovery Communications has reported financial results for the third quarter ended September 30th 2016. Q3 revenues of $1,556 million (€1,414m) were flat compared to the prior year, as 2 per cent growth at US Networks and 19 per cent growth at its education unit were offset by a 3 per cent decline at International Networks, primarily […]

November 1, 2016

Nickelodeon suspended in Pakistan

Kid’s channel Nickelodeon has seen its broadcasts “suspended” by Pakistan’s media regulator. The suspension took place on October 31st, reports BBC Monitoring. Pakistan Electronic Media Regulation Authority (PEMRA) ruled two weeks ago that even those channels which were authorised to be carried by the country’s cable operators had to observe limits on Indian content. Nickelodeon […]

November 1, 2016By Chris Forrester

Brazilian telcos eye pay TV, broadband

The current Brazilian economic crisis, regulation imbalances for smaller operators, high tax burdens for telecom services, and spectrum and cost limitations for broadband services continue to dampen growth in the Brazilian telecommunications services market, which saw $40.35 billion (€36.6bn) in revenue in 2015. “We did see a 31.4 per cent drop in revenue last year […]

November 1, 2016

BBC First debuts in Hong Kong

Premium British drama brand BBC First has made its debut in Hong Kong as an SVoD service on the territory’s largest pay-TV provider, Now TV. The premium drama brand has launched successfully in key markets around the world including Australia, South Africa, Benelux and the Middle East and offers viewers the best British drama from […]

November 1, 2016

A+E Networks launches Blaze on Freesat

A+E Networks UK has extended distribution of its new free-to-air channel Blaze, following a deal with subscription-free satellite TV platform Freesat. Blaze is now available to the 1.9 million Freesat homes on channel number 162. The announcement came six weeks after the global debut of the new entertainment brand in the UK on Freeview (Channel […]

November 1, 2016

Nigeria wants 2 new satellites

Nigeria is looking to order two Chinese-built satellites, in order to counter the amount of cash being spent with ‘foreign’ satellite operators for broadcasting and data capacity over Nigeria. Nigeria’s government says the project will cost about $550 million (€550m), and the country is in discussions with China’s ExIm Bank to provide the cash. The […]

November 1, 2016By Chris Forrester