Advanced Television

Inside Satellite

Chris Forrester

Chris Forrester is one of the most experienced and highly regarded journalists in the field. His insight and analysis, particularly in the satellite and pay-TV arena, is highly prized. He has written for all the major business journals in the sector as well as several national newspapers.

Telesat insists all well with Lightspeed

Telesat’s president/CEO Dan Goldberg, in a March 29th investor call, insisted that the Canadian satellite operator was still spending cash on planning and development of its Lightspeed mega-constellation of 200 satellites. Goldberg added that the business demand for Lightspeed was a strong as ever. Goldberg told analysts that Telesat was still confident of the project […]

March 30, 2023

ITU problems for Rivada Networks

Rivada Networks wants to build and launch 600 satellites in a mega-constellation. However, the business is on a tight timetable as far as its launch schedule is concerned and badly needs the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to relax its rules. The first batch of satellites, numbering 300, are already on order. Rivada had hoped that […]

March 29, 2023

EU unveils IRIS2 tender documents

The European Commission (EC) has published its tender specifications for its IRIS2 global satellite project. The EC wants the contract to be firmly in place within one year. The concept is for an EU-backed fully independent constellation of satellites. The IRIS2 project is for a multi-orbit satellite network and managed as a concession by a […]

March 27, 2023

Musk: ‘Problems with some Starlinks’

Recently, SpaceX launched some second-generation Starlink satellites for its broadband-by-satellite system. However, Elon Musk has confirmed it has problems with at least some of the satellites. On March 22nd Musk tweeted that there were “some issues” with the set of Starlink satellites launched February 27th, confirming industry speculation that some satellites had their orbits changed. […]

March 24, 2023

Busy two weeks for SpaceX

March 24th, subject to the usual weather considerations, will see SpaceX launch 55 of its Starlink satellites (Version 1.5). Mission 5-5 is scheduled for launch at 11.33am Florida time (15.33 GMT) from Cape Canaveral. The Falcon 9 rocket which will be used has been turned around from its previous use in just 25 days. Starlink […]

March 23, 2023

Virgin Orbit’s collapse

Satellite launch business Virgin Orbit, backed by Sir Richard Branson, is urgently looking for more cash to stay in business. Virgin Orbit suspended all its activity – and stopped paying staff – ten days ago on March 16th while it sought fresh funding. The market is awaiting confirmation – one way or another – as […]

March 22, 2023

SpaceX: “We can boost launch capacity”

SpaceX, already the world’s busiest supplier of rocket launch capacity, says it can do more and could increase its launch frequency. A series of expert panels at the recent Satellite 2023 event in Washington, DC, talked about anticipated shortages in launch capacity especially in the 2024-2027 time frame. The decision by the Jeff Bezos-backed Project […]

March 21, 2023

Kuiper: More details emerge

The Jeff Bezos/Amazon-backed Project Kuiper broadband-by-satellite scheme has showcased its consumer terminal and added extra detail as to its plans. The Amazon team recently began development of a dedicated satellite production facility in Kirkland, Washington, and expects to begin mass producing satellites by the end of 2023. Project Kuiper expects to launch the first production […]

March 20, 2023

OneWeb gives up on stolen satellites

OneWeb’s CEO Neil Masterson has largely given up in trying to retrieve satellites worth some $50 million in a dispute related to the Ukraine conflict. Russia’s space agency Roscosmos – in essence – confiscated a batch of 36 satellites that had been delivered ahead of a planned launch from Baikonur and as retaliation to the […]

March 17, 2023

SES vs Intelsat: Appeal hearing March 20

The extremely long-running C-band legal action between the world’s two largest satellite operators, SES and Intelsat, is due in court next Monday, March 20th. SES is arguing that it is entitled to a 50 per cent share of the FCC’s compensation payments for the pair’s certain satellite C-band frequencies which the FCC subsequently auctioned off […]

March 16, 2023