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SES argues for Spanish DTT monopoly changes

There has long been a debate in Brussels over access by non-Spanish satellite providers to the digital TV free to air Spanish market, along with complaints about the amount of allegedly preferential State aid that the Spanish national and regional administrations have given to local DTT operators. The background goes back to before 2010 when […]

March 22, 2018

Dogan sale strengthens Erdogan media grip

Turkey’s Dogan Holding has opened talks to sell its media group to a private firm seen as close to President Tayyip Erdogan. Seen as a pillar of the secular establishment, Dogan Media owns the top-selling Hurriyet daily, broadcaster CNN Turk, TV channels and radio stations. Its acquisition by Demiroren Holding, which owns two pro-government dailies, […]

March 22, 2018

Investment in satellite activity stays strong

One of the panels at last week’s Satellite 2018 conference looked at the amount of cash flowing into the industry from Venture Capital funds and other investors. Bryce Space & Technology, in a presentation to delegates of its report (Startup Space: Update on Investment in Commercial Space Ventures) said that for 2017 some 164 investors […]

March 22, 2018By Chris Forrester

YahSat to make $100m+ insurance claim on Ariane problem

Abu Dhabi-based YahSat is to make a significant insurance claim on its Al Yah-3/YahSat-3 satellite, which was placed into the wrong orbit by Arianespace on January 26th. As previously reported, YahSat says that its satellite has suffered a 43 per cent loss of revenue because of the faulty orbit following the bad launch.  The poor […]

March 22, 2018By Chris Forrester

NextUP comedy SVoD set for expansion

NextUp, the stand-up comedy SVoD service has announced that, due to demand, its latest investment round size has doubled and is currently overfunding at 111 per cent via the online equity investing platform SyndicateRoom. In addition, NextUp has announced that Bruce Tuchman, the former president of AMC Global and Sundance Channel Global, will serve as […]

March 22, 2018

EC proposes GAFA sales tax

The European Commission is proposing a 3 per cent tax on turnover for tech companies as an answer to their perceived profit tax avoidance through choosing low tax countries for all their billing no matter where the sale. The EC estimates the move would raise over €5 billion a year. The proposal would affect firms […]

March 21, 2018

Telenor to sell CEE assets to PPF Group

Telenor has entered into an agreement to sell its assets in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) to PPF Group for €2.8 billion (around NOK 27bn) on an enterprise value basis. The Board of Directors of Telenor intends to ask the Annual General Meeting (AGM) for authorisation to distribute a special dividend of NOK 4.40 per […]

March 21, 2018

Frot-Coutaz to leave FremantleMedia for YouTube

RTL Group has announced that Cécile Frot-Coutaz, CEO of FremantleMedia, will leave the Group to take on a new challenge, she is expected to take a leadership role at YouTube EMEA. Bert Habets, CEO of RTL Group, says: “I would like to thank Cécile for her extraordinary creative and commercial achievements at FremantleMedia. She has […]

March 21, 2018

Liberty, Sunrise mull Swiss venture

Liberty Global is in talks with Sunrise Communications Group about a potential partnership to combine and expand their businesses in Switzerland, according to Reuters. The early-stage discussions could pave the way for a joint venture between Liberty’s UPC unit and Zurich-based Sunrise, which has a market value of about $4.2 billion. The combined business’s structure […]

March 21, 2018

Bank highly critical of Inmarsat

An investment bank report on London-based satellite operator Inmarsat makes for troubling reading. Equity analysts at Berenberg Bank, commenting on Inmarsat’s recent disappointing results said that the operator’s formal guidance for the year ahead has given “investors little reason to put fresh money into Inmarsat, in our view”. The bank says that Inmarsat’s story now […]

March 21, 2018