At the 2010 NAB Show, World Teleport Association was co-producer of the Destination Broadband Theater in the Upper South Hall. In 16 panel sessions over three days, we focused on two closely-related topics: delivering and monetizing video content delivered over broadband, and how traditional television distribution is evolving in response to the broadband revolution.  

With over one hundred million households, the United States is currently the largest market in the world for broadband services. About sixty percent, or 60 million households currently access broadband services from various sources, mainly terrestrial. Satellite broadband service reach only one million households, or less than 2 percent of broadband households in the U.S. Clearly, there is a lot more room to expand satellite broadband services in the U.S. market and major operators such as Hughes and Viasat are determined to develop the market to its full potential.  

Ernst & Young  released a report on the media and entertainment landscape in the emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC). The report provides an overview of the latest indicators of market attractiveness, as well as the opportunities, challenges and critical success factors in conducting business in these four countries. 

NSR’s annual review of the broadband satellite market shows that, after a year of uncertainty, the majority of signs indicate the sector made it through the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression relatively well. Probably one of the biggest success stories of 2009 was satellite broadband access, where NSR noted that North America set a milestone by becoming the first region to top 1 million subscribers, and Western Europe will likely exceed 100,000 subscribers well before the end of 2010.

The issue of inadequate bandwidth in the world very small aperture terminal (VSAT) market has experienced a conflicting impact: a spurt in service revenues and, simultaneously, a dip in the sales of equipment or hardware. VSAT providers, while pleased with the hike in service revenues, are wary of pricing many potential, cost-sensitive VSAT users out of the market.  

The World Teleport Association announced the release of a new report, What Customers Want. A product of interviews conducted by WTA with senior decision-makers for teleport and satellite customers in the media and entertainment sector, the report explores the thinking process of key buyers in North America and Europe as they are likely to affect their purchases of services and technology from teleport operators and their space segment partners.

by NSR

Japan is often looked at as the early adopter of all things technology-related, be it the widespread use of laptops, mobile phones or gaming and value-added services. One would expect that the large LED screens found at busy intersections in Tokyo would naturally spill over to LCD and plasma screens at every possible media opportunity – be it a retail store aisle, cinema theatre or fast-food restaurant. However, a closer look at this otherwise tech-savvy country reveals that players have been slow in rolling out screens – not impeded by technology – but more by a reluctance to be first-to-market with a relatively unproven emerging advertising media.

A telco PR executive once remarked to me that satellite was like a solution always looking for a problem.  Given that he was looking to represent my satellite consultancy firm, I thought this was an odd way to earn my business!  Dents to my ego aside, what this guy was reflecting is simply the wider telecommunications industry and a great many potential customers’ perception of satellite – VSAT communications in particular.

As High-Definition (HD) video has hit its stride worldwide, the TV and film industry are looking ahead to the next new thing. 3D TV and Ultra-HD (UHD) are on the horizon, according to market research firm, In-Stat (http://www.in-stat.com). 

In announcing in its recent budget request that it would buy 50 more UAVs of the extended range category, the Pentagon sent a strong signal to the satellite industry that more communications-on-the-move (COTM) for UAVs would be needed in the coming years.