Author: Max Engel

When considering commercial space one thinks of satellites. When one thinks about the intersection of commercial space and consumers one thinks of satellite TV, GPS, broadband over satellite and the...

In the first quarter of 2010, AT&T plans to begin offering Terrestar’s satellite voice service as part of selected AT&T wireless plans, and this may be the time that satellite...

At the beginning of October it was announced that ViaSat was buying WildBlue. What made this a good idea for ViaSat? What made it worth paying the $568 million needed...

The DTH sector is doing well, however, the business has two potential long-term problems. These might be seen as bandwidth quantity and offering quality, and both can be addressed through...

In the commercial satellite world the idea of hybrid networks has become increasingly important. Hughes Network Systems, for example, now sees itself as a network management firm and offers not...

In my last column, I concluded that direct-to-home (DTH) video was more vulnerable to bad economic times than wholesale video distribution or VSAT services. This month I consider broadband satellite....

With the continuing economic collapse, people in every industry are wondering how their particular sector will perform. In the satellite sector, there has been considerable opinion that satellite would do...

I have discussed the basic business models for direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasting (wholesale and retail) and the implications of these models for the structure of the organization that provides them. I...

In my last column I sketched out the path by which the satellite industry transitioned from one wholly dependent on government and public switched telephone network (PSTN) customers to one...

Welcome to Satellite Get Personal, a bimonthly column on how the consumer affects — and is affected by — the satellite industry. Why does this matter? Well, according to the...