Seventy per cent of Earth is covered by the oceans, but, although only very few of us occupy this part of Earth’s surface except on a temporary basis, we increasingly look to the seas as a resource for industry, commerce and leisure. Thus, the comparative hostility of the seas, in contrast to our populated land masses, does not diminish their vital, and increasing, importance as a means of transport for our globalised trade goods, as an important source of food supplies and of vital energy resources, as well as an environment for our entertainment pursuits.

CASBAA has announced an outstanding program of speakers and sponsors for its 12th annual Satellite Industry Forum on Monday, 18 June at the Shangri-La Hotel Singapore reflecting the Asia Pacific’s key position “at the heart of global growth” for the industry.“ As the representative Association for multichannel TV and the communications sector in the Asia Pacific, it is vital that we hear from all aspects of the industry including the satellite services sector which continues to play such a huge role in the growth and development of the market,” said Simon Twiston Davies, CEO, CASBAA.

Despite their ever-increasing momentum, over-the-top (OTT) TV services are not yet an adequate alternative to traditional pay-TV, according to Ovum. However, operators should not rest easy, warns the Global analysts; besides enjoying significant brand equity, a handful of key OTT players, such as LOVEFiLM and YouTube, can also leverage the financial strength and assets of their parent companies (Amazon and Google, respectively) to substantially improve their positioning.

Euroconsult today announced the launch of its latest research report, "Hosted Payloads: The View From Within." Following discussions with the Hosted Payload Alliance (HPA), Euroconsult decided to pursue development of the report in order to identify and assess corresponding and conflicting perspectives from the key stakeholder groups directly involved in hosted payload programs. Based on an exhaustive survey, the views of eight key stakeholder groups were examined on the basis of risks, opportunities, challenges and requirements related to hosted payloads.

CommunicAsia, EnterpriseIT and BroadcastAsia – some of the world’s leading event for the increasingly converging Digital Multimedia, Entertainment, Infocomm and Telecommunications arena – is experiencing record pre-show visitor registrations and exhibitor figures hitting close to 2,000 as the industry, its business leaders and influencers turn their attention towards opening day on 19 June.

Euroconsult  announced today that the satellite pay-TV industry reached revenues close to $90 billion in 2011, up from $79 billion in 2010. Global industry revenues are expected to reach close to $150 billion in 2021, with emerging markets (i.e. Latin America, Central Europe, Russia, the Middle East, Africa and Asia) representing a growing share of revenues that will nearly double over the next ten years to reach 44% by 2021.

Latest figures released today by leading broadband analyst firm Point Topic, reveal which countries have triumphed the broadband “crunch”, and those that have battled their way through to meet, or even exceed, expectations set in 2009.Oliver Johnson, CEO at Point Topic, said: “This has been a difficult period for the world. Markets have been subject to a number of internal and external shocks that have made it pretty difficult for crystal ball gazers.

Mobile is both Facebook’s Achilles heel and future says Guillermo Escofet, Senior Analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media.
Facebook has been at the forefront of the big growth in mobile data usage in recent years. It is indisputably one of the big stars of mobile; one that most operators have wanted to ally themselves with to drive the sale of data plans on their networks.

IBC is the leading forum for the electronic media and entertainment industry attracting over 50,000 professionals from more than 160 countries and combines an internationally renowned conference with a first class exhibition featuring the latest media technology innovation.

SES  announced today that its German HD+ platform reached more than 2.6 million households at the end of the first quarter of this year. More than half a million of them are paying the annual service fee. Nearly three million HD+ receivers have been sold since the launch of HD+ at the end of 2009.