OAO Rostelecom, Russia’s dominant fixed-line phone operator, plans to boost its stake in pay television operator National Telecommunications, or NTK to 100 per cent, according to Russian newspaper Kommersant. Rostelecom could spend $460 million to acquire the 28 per cent of NTK shares it doesn’t already own from OAO Gazprombank.
Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES reported record profits for its full year 2011 numbers (to December 31st) as well as continued growth in its fleet (which now numbers 50 satellites) helped by this past week’s launch of SES-4. However, overall launch delays of new satellites plus some problems with specific satellites harmed, and continue to harm, […]
Paris-based satellite ‘supra-regional’ operator Eutelsat reported “solid” half-year results (to December 31st) on February 17th. Eutelsat reported revenue growth up 4.6 per cent to €602.4 million, and a record order book backlog of €5.3 billion (up a very healthy 9.6 per cent). However, the cost of refinancing €1.8 billion-worth of group debt at the end […]
India’s DTH satellite subscribers now exceed 44 million homes, says Hong Kong-based Media Partners Asia (MPA). The number of homes with satellite TV installed has expanded from 25 million at the end of 2010, to Nov 2011’s position of 44.4 million. However, the numbers also show up some challenges for the over-supplied industry. The industry […]
The Rugby World Cup has boosted Sky Network’s half year profits in New Zealand as subscriber numbers grew at their fastest rate in five years. Sky posted a 3.8 per cent rise in its after tax profit for the six months ending December, to $62.7 million. Its chief executive, John Fellet, says the Rubgy World […]
GlobeCast hs confirmed the launch of CTC-International on Eutelsat’s Hot Bird 8 satellite, the largest broadcast neighborhood in the world. This move increases the channel’s broadcast footprint, giving it the potential to reach more than 120 million homes in Europe, Northern Africa, and the Middle East. CTC-International is a 24/7 Russian-language family entertainment channel, whose […]
TV Azteca, a popular network broadcaster and owned by Mexico’s Grupo Salinas, has been removed from most of the country’s cable operators. As at 2011 it was the nation’s second-most important broadcaster. However, Grupo Salinas wants to charge cable operators for its content. There is no ‘must carry’ obligation in Mexico. Azteca has lost around […]
Findings from video technology company FreeWheel’s latest quarterly ‘Video Monetisation Report’ indicates that for the second quarter in a row, video advertising volume growth outpaced video viewing volume growth. Ad loads (the number of video ads per video view) increased over time, while video ad completion rates remained stable. According to FreeWheel, this illustrates that […]
DirecTV has reported increases in fourth quarter 2011 revenues of nearly 13 per cent to $7.46 billion, operating profit before depreciation and amortisation (OPBDA) of 6 per cent to $1.78 billion and operating profit of 14 per cent to $1.21 billion compared to last year’s fourth quarter. DirecTV also reported that fourth quarter net income […]
Canal Plus’ CEO Bertrand Meheut is to step down in 2013, according to a report in French business newspaper Les Echos. He will then take up the position of non-executive Chairman at the pay-TV broadcaster. His stepping down in 2013 is earlier than expected. Meheut’s position will be taken by his current joint CEO Rodolphe […]