Advanced Television

Business

Vodafone Portugal buys 33% of Sport TV

Vodafone Portugal has purchased one third of premium sports network Sport TV, distributed in Portugal via all major cable networks. Sport TV will now be equally owned by three shareholders – Vodafone Portugal, NOS and Olivedesportos – each with 33.3 per cent of the capital. Sport TV was launched in 1998 as the only dedicated […]

August 1, 2016From Branislav Pekic in Rome

Confusion at Eutelsat vs Abertis and Hispasat

July 29th saw Eutelsat unveil its end-of-year results. It also gave market analysts a chance to question the CEO Rodolphe Belmer on the satellite operator’s strategy. Analysts eagerly wanted to know what the latest news was on Eutelsat’s move to sell its 33.69 per cent stake in Madrid-based operator Hispasat. Somewhat focusing the equity analysts’ minds […]

August 1, 2016

Moody’s downgrades Avanti; Inmarsat a buyer?

Moody’s Financial Services has downgraded London-based satellite operator Avanti Communications, saying – in essence – a default is “almost inevitable” and that Avanti is unlikely to meet its financial obligations in 2016” and adding that there is now potential for marking Avanti’s debt bonds down to CC or ‘junk bond’ status unless the operator can […]

August 1, 2016By Chris Forrester

UKTV outpaces broadcast market

The UK’s biggest multichannel broadcaster, UKTV, is outpacing the British broadcast market, as the first half (H1) of 2016 delivered record-breaking share of commercial impacts (SOCI); with audience share and on demand views also showing significant growth. Reaching an all-time high, UKTV’s consolidated SOCI, averaged at 9.74 per cent for H1 2016. The broadcaster grew […]

August 1, 2016

Iran accused of stealing TV content

Qatar’s beIN Sports held the exclusive TV broadcast rights for the Middle East to last month’s UEFA European Football Championships.  beIN Sports is accusing Iran’s state-backed broadcaster IRIB of deliberately pirating the signals and ignoring the established protocols over use of rights. UEFA has separately said that broadcasters which violated its rules would face fines. […]

August 1, 2016By Chris Forrester

UK students will need a licence for iPlayer

The start of the UK academic year will bring many changes for students, including, for the first time, the need to be covered by a TV Licence to download or watch BBC programmes on demand on iPlayer. A change in the law means as of September 1st, a licence will be needed to download or […]

August 1, 2016By Colin Mann

Mediaset to sue Vivendi over reduced pay-TV investment

The Board of Directors of Mediaset said it will take legal action, both civil and criminal, if French media company Vivendi fails to fulfil the original terms of the contract to take full control of pay-TV unit Mediaset Premium. Mediaset said it has lost €27.8 million in the first half of 2016 (compared with a […]

July 29, 2016From Branislav Pekic in Rome

SES: HD at 33%, 16 UHD channels

SES has revealed its H1 numbers, with the Luxembourg-based satellite operator reporting its fleet now carries 16 commercial Ultra-HD channels, and that its portfolio of 2,422 HD channels represents 32.7 per cent of the total 7,164 channel count (and HD growth is up 12.1 per cent y-o-y). The growth in commercial UHD channels is dramatic. […]

July 29, 2016By Chris Forrester

Eutelsat: 6,342 channels

Paris-based satellite operator Eutelsat has unveiled its full-year results, with EBITDA up 2.9 per cent at €1.164 billion, and based on revenues that were up just 0.2 per cent (at constant currency) at €1.529 billion, and thus maintaining its 76 per cent EBITDA margin. However, its contracted backlog fell back 9.5 per cent (to €5.6 […]

July 29, 2016By Chris Forrester

Canada’s Telesat wins major Brazilian deal

Ottawa-based satellite operator Telesat says its latest Q2 grew slightly despite suffering industry-wide declines in transponder lease prices of some 10-15 per cent in Latin America and 15-20 per cent over Asia.  Telesat’s Q2 revenue of C$232 million ($178.4mn), up 2 per cent from a year ago and up 1 per cent after accounting for […]

July 29, 2016By Chris Forrester