News Analysis

Study Shows Broadcast Industry Is Recovering From Recession

Gloucestershire, U.K., July 28, 2011 — The IABM (International Association of Broadcasting Manufacturers)  released the fourth edition of its "Broadcast and Media Technology: Global Market Valuation and Strategy to 2015" study. Based on original research commissioned from IHS Screen Digest, the study offers unique insights into the recovery and growth of the worldwide broadcast industry.

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Over-the-Top (OTT) services are More Likely to Appeal as Complementary, Rather than Primary, Pay-TV services

London, July 22, 2011-Consulting firm Analysys Mason's recent pay-TV forecasts for Europe, predicts that the number of pay-TV households will increase by 12% to 185.2 million between 2011 and 2016.  "Over-the-top services are far more likely to appeal as complementary, rather than primary, pay-TV services." according to Cesar Bachelet, Senior Analyst at Analysys Mason.

IPTV Services Getting Highly Personalized, Integrated, Portable and On-Demand

Campbell, Calif., July 22, 2011--By 2012, 63% of IPTV service providers interviewed plan to support multi-screen viewing across PCs, tablets, and smartphones according to market research firm Infonetics Research2011 IPTV Services Deployment Strategies: Global Service Provider Survey. IPTV is also getting highly personalized, highly integrated, portable and on-demand according to the survey.

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Building Satellites amidst the TWTA Bottleneck

by NSR

July 20, 2011--Ideally an operator would like to have a satellite go from RFP to orbit in 25 to 30 months. However, the reality is that manufacturing satellites is far from an assembly line operation where every component is sourced with sufficient inventory support. Often the equipment onboard the satellite is highly specialized and vendors are few, which put constraints on delivery and in effect, time to market for satellite services.

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O3b: A Work in Progress

by NSR

Cambridge, Mass., July 12, 2011--O3b signed a "multi-year, multi-million dollar reseller agreement" with Sky Fiber Corporation in June 2011 following on a similar announcement with Mavoni Technologies, South Africa in May 2011. Yet, beyond these two recent contracts and one additional framework agreement with Etisalat, O3b has been fairly quiet in terms of client deals since it completed its funding in November 2010. NSR’s take on this period of contracting calm is that O3b has largely depleted the early adopter market, and most of the rest of the industry is now waiting for O3b to make concrete progress in the construction and launch of its network as well as - and especially key in NSR’s view - provide detailed information on the cost and performance of its upcoming Tier 2 ground equipment.

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World Teleport Association Publishes New Report on Customer Preferences in the Enterprise Sector

Report provides insight into the buying preferences, issues and priorities of teleport customers in the enterprise sector
 

New York City, July 1,  2011– The World Teleport Association announced the release of its newest report, What Customers Want: Enterprise 2011. The report is a product of interviews conducted with senior decision-makers for teleport and satellite customers in the enterprise sector. Customers interviewed ranged from retail, maritime, and finance to communications carriers and nonprofit organizations.

As NASA Mimics Arianespace over SpaceX, Is History Repeating Itself?

by NSR

Cambridge, Mass., June 23, 2011--George Bernard Shaw once said that “if history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience”. NSR is not as critical about the future of the launch industry for North America and Western Europe but does extend a word of caution towards the development of next-gen launchers.

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2010 SIA State of the Industry Report Shows Continued Growth

Washington, D.C., June 20, 2011 – The Satellite Industry Association (SIA)  released its 2011 State of the Satellite Industry Report, showing a five percent growth in overall world satellite industry revenues in 2010. Global 2010 revenues for the satellite industry totaled $168.1 billion, for an 11.2 percent average annual industry growth rate over the past 5 years.

Simple Math on FY12 Defense Appropriations Bill...The Satcom Effect

by NSR

Cambridge, Mass., June 17, 2011--As budget pressures continue to reign supreme on Capitol Hill, the satellite sector might experience an unexpected turn of events. Focus is now squarely on the U.S. House of Representatives as they attempt to kill off a DISA plan for a long-term lease of a commercial satellite to provide services over the Middle East in favor of an additional WGS satellite. With this new development still ongoing, questions emerge as to the long-term viability of defense-related leasing of commercial satellite capacity.

Most Americans Surf Online while Watching TV

by Samantha Braverman, Sr. Project Researcher, Harris Interactive

New York,  June 15, 2011 - The invention of the DVR system presented a hurdle for television advertisers, as they worried their valued audience would fast-forward through their messages. While those concerns may have merit, a recent Adweek/Harris Poll shows that regardless of the ability to use a DVR system, Americans may not be giving their undivided attention to their TV screens. According to the recent survey, while watching TV most Americans also surf the Internet (56%) and many do other activities like read a book, magazine or newspaper (44%), go on a social networking site (40%) or text on their mobile phone (37%). These are some of the findings of a recent Adweek/Harris Poll survey of 2,309 U.S. adults surveyed online between May 24 and 26, 2011 by Harris Interactive.

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