News Analysis

Washington, DC, Oct. 16, 2013 — The biggest U.S. media companies have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to rule Aereo Inc., which provides broadcast signals to online viewers, as an illegal operation. Petitioners to the suit include — Walt Disney Co., 21st Century Fox Inc., Comcast Corp. (CMCSA)’s NBCUniversal, CBS Corp. (CBS), Univision Communications Inc., the Public Broadcasting Service and station WNET, and Tribune Co. owned New York station WPIX — filed the petition on Friday with the court after litigation in lower courts failed to stop Aereo.

Rochelle Park, NJ – Oct. 10, 2013 – ORBCOMM Inc., a provider of Machine-to-Machine (M2M) solutions, and Savi Technology, a provider of sensor-based analytics and radio-frequency identification (RFID) solutions, today announced a strategic relationship to provide advanced location-based monitoring solutions to government and commercial markets.

Houston, TX, Oct. 9, 2013 — RigNet, Inc. has entered into a new credit agreement with Bank of America, N.A. for its business expansion.The new agreement gave RigNet a US$ 60 million term loan and a US$ 125 million revolving credit facility, which includes a US$15 million sublimit for the issuance of standby letters of credit.

Iroquois, Ontario, Canada, October 8, 2013 — Canadian video production technology company, Ross Video, has acquired MCP – Mobile Content Providers, a premium full service mobile sports production packager based in South Florida, USA.

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.

Melville, N.Y., October 8, 2013 — Comtech Telecommunications Corp.'s fourth-quarter earnings fell 35 percent after posting sales declines throughout its operations, most notably in its mobile data communications segment. Comtech said net sales dropped to $84.4 million for the fourth quarter and $319.8 million for full year of fiscal 2013 ended July 31, 2013, compared to $112.8 million and $425.1 million for the same periods in fiscal 2012.

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.

Rochelle Park, NJ, October 1, 2013 – ORBCOMM Inc., a provider of Machine-to-Machine (M2M) solutions, today announced that it has completed the acquisition of Comtech Mobile Datacom Corporation’s (Comtech) Sensor Enabled Notification System (SENS) operation, which includes satellite hardware, network technology and web platforms. SENS is a market leader in providing one-way satellite products and services to more than 20,000 subscribers worldwide.

The October 2013 issue of  the  Satellite Executive Briefing  focusing sponsored by Newtec is now available.  Featuring:

Satellite Industry Remains Stable.. For now by Elisabeth Tweedie

Case Study: Remote Monitoring of Leased Equipment

A Ripening 'Satellite Nation'  by Lou Zacharilla 

ICT and the Hydrocarbons MarketPlace by Martin Jarrold

plus Conference report on VSAT 2013, IndustryBriefs, Market Briefs, Executive Moves, Vital Statistics and Satellite Markets and Research 25^TM Stock Index  and many more.   Click here to download the issue