The boards of Inmarsat and Triton Bidco announced today that they have reached agreement for a US$3.4 billion in cash takeover by Triton Bidco of Inmarsat.

Triton Bidco is a newly formed joint venture company owned in equal shares by fund managers Apax Warburg Pincus, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board.

Under the terms of the acquisition, Inmarsat shareholders are to receive US$7.21 per Inmarsat share, comprised of a cash consideration of US$7.09 per share, and a final divided of USD0.12 to be paid on May 30.

The Satellite Hub Summit @ CABSAT 2019, GVF’s prominent MENA platform for addressing and analyzing evolutionary and revolutionary transitions in satellite technologies, services, applications, and markets, was a central feature at the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre/Dubai World Trade Centre over 12th to 14th March. The Hub program started-off with the first of two important keynote addresses.

Leading figures from the Middle East’s growing eSports community believe that government-backing would give the Gen Z-led phenomenon the backbone it needs to “thrive” in the UAE and wider region.

Mohammad Albanna, who is on the board of the UAE eSports Federation, and Saeed Sharaf, CEO of eSport Middle East and president of the Syrian eSport Association, led an open panel discussion at the debut eSports Pavilion at CABSAT – the region’s leading event for the satellite, broadcast and filmed content media and entertainment industry.

Vertice 360, the Spanish media company owned by Squirrel Capital, is set to acquire M-Three Satcom, the Italian based teleport operator founded in 2004 and acquired by Giglio Group in 2015.

M-Three Satcom will be main part of a wider agreement including the purchase by Vertice of other media assets of Giglio Group as the internationally distributed Nautical Channel and  the Italian DTT Lcn  68.

The 2020 NAB Show will be held April 18 - 22, with exhibits open April 19 - 22, at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

NAB Show is the world's largest and most comprehensive convention encompassing the convergence of media, entertainment and technology. The 2019 NAB Show dates remain as previously announced April 6 - 11, 2019, with exhibits Monday - Thursday, April 8 - 11.

Es’hailSat, the Qatar Satellite Company, announced today that its recently launched satellite, Es’hail-2, entered commercial service to serve government, broadcast and telecommunications sectors in Middle East and North Africa.

The global Entertainment and Media (E&M) industry is in the midst of a significant shift as viewers demand a more personalised experience, both in terms of the content they consume and their platform of choice. The fast-paced development of mobile and streaming technologies have sparked a marked shift in consumer behaviour, thrusting the industry into an era analysts are referring to as Convergence 3.0. In this new wave of entertainment, technology is giving a voice to the consumer and that voice is clear - viewers are demanding bespoke content that they can consume anytime, anywhere.

Satellites are becoming more and more complex as the new High Throughput Satellite (HTS) and non-geostationary systems are coming. The new systems require innovative solutions for monitorign and control.

Communications are undergoing a complete transition from what we know as the norm, towards a somewhat unknown reality, where anything and everything will eventually be connected. Of course, this is no easy feat for established networks built on fixed, tried and tested infrastructure and as new applications such as the Internet of Things (IoT), continues to advance and connected objects become commonplace, universal high-capacity, high-speed connectivity will become a necessity, anywhere and everywhere. Consequently, the role of satellite will play a growing role, delivering seamless, high-bandwidth broadband services to once unimaginable locations, including out at sea and in the sky.

The Russian Satellite Communications Co. has joined the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade’s MUNIN pilot project, which aims to develop and test technologies in automated navigation and remote control of vessels.