With IPTV subscriber numbers predicted to undergo a huge ten-fold increase, reaching 1.6 million by 2014, the Middle East and North Africa is undoubtedly a region rich with promise for those within the TV delivery ecosystem. The untapped territory provides the backdrop for this year’s TV Connect Middle East and North Africa, which is set to focus on IPTV, OTTtv, and multiplatform services, and provides the perfect platform to explore the growth opportunity within TV delivery.

The Satellite Interference Reduction Group (IRG) today announced that its annual conference will be held in Dubai from 18th - 20th November 2012.The annual IRG conference brings together experts from all areas of the industry, including broadcasters, satellite operators, and equipment manufacturers. It provides a forum to discuss recent developments, as well as looking forward to the next steps.

Latest NSR Report Forecasts US$6.9 Billion in New Revenues by 2021

NSR's Global Assessment of Satellite Supply & Demand, 9th Edition report, released today, found that commercial satellite operators grew capacity leasing revenues by US$635 million between 2010 and 2011 and are aggressively targeting new markets such as mobility and other high value services in order to maintain sustained revenue expansion for the coming years.

Broadband is the hot topic all around the world and the global satellite industry is responding to accelerating demand for frequency spectrum to satisfy the requirements for increasing Internet bandwidth from a wide range of end-users. Key end-users include the Corporate, Enterprise, Government, NGO, and Internet Service Provision sectors, as well as the satellite news gathering (SNG) segment, and the consumer sector.

The number of pay Direct to Home (DTH)  homes for 80 countries covered in a new report by Digital TV Research will be 220 million by end-2017, up from 154 million at end-2011 and 91 million at end-2007. India will lead the sector with 50.9 million pay DTH homes in 2017, followed by the US with 36.5 million. Russia (14.7 million) and Brazil (14.6 million) will take third and fourth places respectively.

The global volume of mobile data traffic will exceed 107 exabytes in 2017, shows a new forecast from ABI Research. This total traffic volume will be eight times more than what is expected for 2012. But how significant a growth rate would this represent, exactly?

Point Topic figures reveal North South digital divide is expanding 

Data published today by leading broadband research firm Point Topic shows that 13% of UK premises still can’t get broadband speeds higher than 2Mbps. As the UK continues to gain internet bandwidth and consumers, stubborn holes in the deployment and take-up around the country remain.

Smart set-top boxes often garner less attention than other connected CE devices like TVs and game consoles – Apple has referred to its Apple TV as a “hobby” although it leads the market with around 4 million units shipped through 2011. Roku has had recent success (e.g. passing 2.5M units in 2011), but the future looks at the very least challenging for these dedicated streaming devices to break out of a niche status. TVs, game consoles, Blu-ray players, and even mobile devices are quickly conspiring to engender a very competitive market for the digital living room.

The maritime market for satellite services is one of the fastest growing segments of the industry.  Euroconsult has forecasted that the number of satellite communications terminals in the global maritime market will nearly double over the next de-cade, with a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of seven percent over the 10-year period.

Euroconsult announced the findings of its most recent study of fixed satellite services. The report entitled "Company Profiles, Analysis of FSS Operators," now in its 5th edition, indicates that regional operators in particular continued to see strong business growth from various applications including DTH TV broadcasting, cellular backhaul and enterprise networks. Many of these regional operators are continuing their ambitious expansion plans with growing satellite fleets and a number of satellite launches still ahead in the coming years.