Google has entered into an agreement to buy Skybox Imaging for US$ 500 million in cash, subject to adjustments Skybox’s satellites will help keep Google Maps accurate with up-to-date imagery.

"Over time, we also hope that Skybox’s team and technology will be able to help improve Internet access and disaster relief — areas Google has long been interested in," said Google in a statement

More than 1600 participants including around 100 Government Ministers and leaders from international organizations, from business, civil society and academia are meeting in Geneva this week to review progress on the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) over the last ten years and to set priorities for the post-2015 development agenda.

There have been many radical changes in the recent broadcast industry as the collision  between broadcast and IT-centric technologies has accelerated. Where once the industry was a ‘walled garden’ with its own specific technologies, standards and practices, increasingly it finds itself open to the vagaries of wider progress in other fields. And while this means it can reap the advantages of piggybacking on Moore’s law, not to mention a hugely expanded R&D effort in multiple diverse fields, it has also led to numerous problems.

A high level meeting opened today to review progress on the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which was held in Geneva in 2003 and in Tunis in 2005. Policy-makers, including Government Ministers and leaders from civil society, academia, business, and international organizations will focus attention on implementation of the outcomes of the Summit for next year’s ten-year review during the WSIS+10 High-level Event that kicks off today.

NSR’s newly released Wireless Backhaul, Trunking and Video Offload via Satellite, 8th Edition finds the Asian region dominating the wireless backhaul, trunking and video offload market on an annualized basis, leading to over 27% of cumulative global revenues from 2013-2023. The large user base, the topographic challenges and key markets that include Australia, China, India and Indonesia are key elements favoring satellite usage compared to other regions.

HRH Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan, President of the Royal Scientific Society and Chairman of Board of Trustees, inaugurated today the 11th Convergence Summit taking place in Amman at the Four Seasons Hotel. The two-day summit brings together top regional and global media and telecoms industry executives.

Satellite operator ABS is preparing for a major business expansion with the launch of ABS-2A & ABS-3A in 2014/2015 and further satellites to be added to the fleet in the following two years. ABS launched its sixth satellite, ABS-2 in February 2014, covering 80% of the world's population including the emerging markets of Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East and Russia / CIS. 

A noteworthy highlight of CommunicAsia2014, industry’s preferred information and communication technology business event in Asia that will be held at Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre from 17 – 20 June, SatComm2014 will once again unveil the largest contingent of satellite companies witnessed at any single ICT trade event in Asia.

Global pay TV revenues [subscription fees and on-demand movies and TV episodes] will climb to $209 billion in 2020, up from US$193 billion in 2013, according  to a new report from Digital TV Research. The Digital TV World Revenue  Forecasts report states that the fast growth years are over - as a point of  comparison revenues grew by $24 billion between 2010 and 2013. 

Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd.  today reported its results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2014. Non-GAAP operating income was US$ 0.5 million, compared to a loss of US$ 0.1 million in the fourth quarter 2013. GAAP operating loss was US$ 1.5 million compared to a loss of US$ 2.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2013