Global Markets - Latest Developments
In a sudden twist of events, 21st Century Fox, NBCUniversal and The Walt Disney Co. stopped the bidding of Hulu and jointly announced that they will maintain their respective ownership positions in the video company. In a statement, the owners said they agreed to provide cash infusion of $750 million to propel future growth.
“We believe the best path forward for Hulu is a meaningful recapitalization that will further accelerate its growth under the current ownership structure,” said Chase Carey, President and Chief Operating Officer of 21st Century Fox.
As part of its comprehensive national development strategy, China in 2003, outlined its ten-year space goals. Some of its more important space goals include — an Earth observation system, an independently operated satellite broadcasting and telecommunications system, upgraded overall capacity of launch vehicles, a manned spaceflight, and a complete R&D and test system for manned space projects.
The increase in digital distribution and the continued shift to mobile devices for the delivery of all communications and content, is helping drive revenues for media and telecom companies, according to a recent poll of industry
executives by KPMG.
Sirius XM Radio today announced that it added 715,000 net new subscribers in the second quarter, bringing its total subscribers to more than 25 million. Strong automotive sales helped drive 15% growth in net additions over the second quarter of 2012 and set a post-merger record for quarterly net subscriber additions. The company also announced that it was raising full-year guidance for total net subscriber additions to 1.5 million from its previous guidance of 1.4 million.
SpeedCast has successfully closed a US$ 55 million Senior Secured Credit Facility. The proceeds of the credit facility was used to finance SpeedCast’s acquisition of a 100% effective interest in Pactel International and refinanced existing indebtedness held by TA Associates, SpeedCast’s controlling shareholder.
C-COM Satellite Systems Inc., a provider of mobile auto-deploying satellite antenna systems, today announced financial results for its second quarter ending May 31, 2013. The company is reporting a net profit of CDN $ 966,997 or 2.8 cents per share compared with results for the same period last year when there was a net profit of CDN $ 542,251, or 1.6 cent per share.
Start-up company Kymeta Corporation announced today that it has successfully closed a US$ 50 million Series C financing to accelerate the company’s growth plans. Kymeta, a privately held technology company, designs and manufactures satellite communication antennas and systems. Existing Kymeta investors including Bill Gates, Lux Capital and Liberty Global were joined in the financing by Osage University Partners and The Kresge Foundation.
Three top pay-TV companies have emerged as the remaining serious contenders for online video service Hulu in a bidding completed on July 5 according to media reports.
The largest satellite company in the U.S., DirecTV, made a bid for the online video service, while Time Warner Cable offered to acquire a stake. AT&T, which operates the U-verse pay TV-service, also submitted a joint bid with Chernin Group, producer of "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" film and TV's "New Girl" as well as an investor in startups such as Tumblr and Flipboard.
New research from the Arab Advisors Group analyzes and compares the social media presence of 40 Free-to-Air (FTA) satellite channels in the Arab World. By mid-June 2013, news and current affairs channels BBC World, Al Arabiya and Al Jazeera English took the lead in the number of Twitter followers, while MBC Group had the highest number of YouTube subscribers on its channel.
Superfast broadband services delivering 30 megabits a second or more now account for 20% of the consumer market in the UK, according to Point Topic.
“Virgin Media has had the most bandwidth in the market for the longest of the major ISPs. They have seen high end services, over 30 megabits a second, go from ten percent of their subscriber base to almost sixty percent in the last two years,” says Oliver Johnson, Chief Executive at Point Topic.
