Focus: Broadcasting

SES has won contracts in the European public service broadcasting arena worth over 66 million euros ($79.97 million), the company announced Feb. 22. The company signed multi-year capacity agreements in backlog with multiple public broadcasters in Europe throughout 2020, which will enable millions of satellite TV households across Europe to continue watching SD and HD...

Global satellite operator Eutelsat has won a multi-year contract to deliver Ka-band satellite broadband services to Zimbabwe’s state-owned internet service provider, TelOne (Pvt) Limited. Starting in March, Eutelsat broadband division Konnect Africa will deliver satellite services from the Eutelsat’s new KONNECT High-Throughput Satellite (HTS) to TelOne’s household and business customers located in remote and rural...

Eutelsat announced two new capacity deals in the space of 24 hours, including a deal with Liquid Telecom, which renewed and expanded its Ku-band capacity agreements on the EUTELSAT 7B satellite. Under this multi-year, multi-transponder agreement announced Tuesday, Liquid Telecom will further leverage the coverage of Sub-Saharan Africa of the 7 degrees East orbital position...

Satellite pay-TV subscription numbers in the Middle East countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are experiencing a sharp drop-off over the past few years, according to a new report “GCC Video & Broadband Distribution 2020” from Media Partners Asia (MPA), which is known for research on Asian broadcast markets. MPA Vice President Aravind Venugopal...

The onslaught of pay-TV offerings such as Netflix, Amazon, and Disney+ have no doubt changed the dynamics of broadcasting around the world, but broadcast remains a key market for satellite. While the satellite pay-TV market is in a state of flux, it still offers significant revenue generating opportunities for satellite operators around the world. In...

Vislink revealed Thursday the launch of IP Link 3.0, a new Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) 3.0 Studio-Transmitter Link system for broadcasting service platforms. Vislink’s IP data over Radio Frequency (RF) system helps deliver data access to remote or hard-to-access transmitter locations. Additionally, the IP Link 3.0 uses high order modulations and strong Forward Error...

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched SiriusXM‘s latest satellite over the weekend. On Sunday, Dec. 13, a Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 12:30 ET carrying SXM-7. The payload was deployed about 31 minutes after liftoff. This was SpaceX’s 25th launch of 2020. The first stage booster...

In a new feature, we round up and put into context the most recent news involving the major satellite operators. The week of Dec. 7 was a relatively quiet one as the big players in the industry prepare for what is likely to be a pivotal 2021. Over the last few days, SES closed a...

SES extended a Standard Definition (SD) and High Definition (HD) broadcasting agreement with Germany’s 1-2-3.tv, the company revealed Wednesday. 1-2-3.tv is a German omnichannel auction platform that reaches over 2 million viewers via TV, online, and mobile apps. 1-2-3.tv is being broadcasted via the SES ASTRA satellite at 19.2 degrees East. In addition to satellite...

The FCC began its 5G spectrum auction of the C-band on Dec. 8, auctioning off C-band spectrum that satellite operators are working to vacate. Up for grabs is spectrum in the 3.7–3.98 GHz band, prime spectrum for 5G services because of its geographic coverage and capacity. The FCC is auctioning 5,684 new flexible-use overlay licenses...