News Analysis

London, UK, October 24, 2013--Viacom (US$749 million) will reap the highest revenues of any international channel  group in Europe in 2013, according to a new report from Digital TV Research.  Covering 225 international channels/networks from 11 groups, the TV Channel  Revenues in Europe report estimates that Viacom will be followed by Eurosport (US$ 651 million) and Discovery (US $620 million). 

London, UK, October 24, 2013--Broadband in Europe is doing  well.  5 of the top 10 ‘fastest’ markets worldwide are European, coverage is on a planned path (unlike many countries around the world) and many of the suppliers are showing useful financial stability and promise as revenues are increasing at least overall, according to new analysis from Poin Topic.

Saltaire, UK, Oct. 23, 2013 — Set-top boxes developer Pace plc is acquiring optical transport and access network solutions provider Aurora Networks for US$ 310 million in cash.

London, UK,  Oct. 18, 2013 — BSkyB showed strength across all its products during the first quarter of fiscal 2013 with plenty of highlights. During the first three months ended 30 September 2013, BSkyB snatched 800,000 new paid-for subscription products for a 50% year on year growth. Sky Broadband surpassed 5 million customers with 111,000 net new broadband customers added in the quarter, up 9% year on year, while triple play penetration rose to 36%, up 3 percentage points.

Brussels, Belgium, October 17, 2013 – With high-speed satellite broadband now available in all 28 EU countries, Europe today reached a major milestone in its drive to bridge the Digital Divide. The opportunity of broadband for all became a reality with the launch of satellite broadband services in the Baltics, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania being the last countries to be added to a network of service providers across Member States.

Betzdorf, Luxembourg, October 16, 2013 - SES S.A. operator of a global fleet of 54 communication satellites, has successfully placed a €500 million 5-year Euro bond. The bond, issued by SES Global Americas Holdings GP and guaranteed by SES S.A., was priced today with a coupon of 1.875% (Mid-Swap +73bp). SES is rated Baa2/BBB/BBB (all stable). Proceeds of issuance will be used to refinance existing debt.

Johannesburg, South Africa, October 8, 2013 — Fox International Channels (FIC), a 21st Century Fox company, is buying Setanta Africa, the broadcaster whose television channel bouquet takes football, rugby, martial arts and other sports to a million homes in sub-Saharan Africa.

Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, October 3, 2013 — Netgem announced consolidated revenues of €24.1 million (US$32.84 million) for the third quarter of 2013 taking its nine-month consolidated revenue to €57.9 million (US$78.9 million).

Scottsdale, Ariz., October 3, 2013--The ability to deliver high quality, high definition video streams across home area networks to devices using multiple formats and multiple screen sizes is crucial to the success of content and service providers. Pay-TV providers, particularly cable providers looking to avoid becoming simply a "dumb" pipe, are increasingly implementing plans to provide content to consumers via multiple types of devices within and outside of the home, according to MRG.

London, UK,  October 1, 2013 — United Kingdom’s Office of Fair Trading has referred the acquisition by Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson of Red Bee Media Limited to the Competition Commission (CC).